Gone Swimming
Swimming in freezing cold water wouldn’t sound appealing to most, but one triathlete found it provided instant relief from his chronic pain.
After a successful surgery on his chest left him with chronic pain, and conventional treatments yielded no results, the 28-year-old athlete plunged into icy waters in a last-ditch attempt at relief.
“Once I was in the water, I had tunnel vision – for the first time in months, I completely forgot about the pain or the fear of shooting pains in my chest if I moved,” he told doctors conducting a study on his condition, which was recently detailed in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
Researchers believe this is the first documented case in which a shock of cold water resulted in the complete alleviation of a patient’s pain, though cold-water baths have been previously used to ease discomfort in athletes, the BBC reported.
There could be various explanations for the patient’s recovery – some say the sudden shock and his fear of drowning could have induced nervous system activity to the point of altered pain perception, for example.
Regardless, report author Tom Mole of the University of Cambridge told the BBC he hopes that it “gives new hope to people recovering from pain after surgery.”
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