Whole-body cold exposure for chronic fatigue illnesses including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and long COVID
Tests whole-body cryotherapy in adults with ME/CFS, fibromyalgia or long COVID.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Oxford Brookes University
- Where
- Oxford, United KingdomSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Whole-body Cryotherapy in Those With Chronic Fatigue: A Feasibility Study
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 40 people, planned
- Started
- 5 Oct 2026
- Expected to end
- 8 Jan 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional
- Treatments tested
- Cryotherapy
- Record updated
- 5 November 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with ME/CFS, fibromyalgia or Long COVID, and also healthy adults as a comparison group. It tests whole-body cryotherapy, a short exposure to extreme cold.
- Age
- 18-65 years in the inclusion criteria (the registry lists 18 to 80 years).
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- Four groups of 10 people each: ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, Long COVID, and healthy controls.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure
- Heart or blood vessel disease
- Circulatory disorders such as Raynaud's disease or cryoglobulinaemia
- Severe lung disease
- Claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces)
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- The study will recruit 40 adult participants (aged 18-65 years) divided across four groups: 10 healthy controls, 10 individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), 10 individuals with Fibromyalgia, and 10 individuals with Long COVID; The relatively small group size is appropriate for a pilot feasibility study, where the primary aim is to assess recruitment, retention, tolerability of the intervention, and the practicality of completing the proposed outcome measures; The sample size reflects the exploratory nature of the study, current resource availability and funding, and the intensive intervention schedule requiring ten visits over a two-week period. In addition, there is limited UK-based evidence regarding participant responses to whole-body cryotherapy within these clinical populations, further supporting a cautious, feasibility-focused sample size
Who cannot take part
- The primary physical risks relate to exposure to extreme cold during whole-body cryotherapy and minor discomfort associated with blood sampling. To mitigate these risks, all participants will undergo a structured medical screening using a standard WBCT medical questionnaire to identify contraindications (e.g. uncontrolled hypertension, cardiovascular disease, circulatory disorders such as Raynaud's disease, cryoglobulinaemia, severe respiratory disease, or claustrophobia). Individuals meeting exclusion criteria will not be enrolled
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 18 and 80 years old?
Where in United Kingdom
- Oxford Brookes University - Centre for Movement, Occupation and Rehabilitation Sciences (MOReS)Oxford, United KingdomContact: Patrick EsserTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Chronic fatiguing illnesses such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia, and Long COVID are becoming a major global health challenge. They cause severe personal and social strain and have no proven, widely effective treatments. Although these conditions have different names, they share many symptoms: long-lasting fatigue that doesn't improve with rest, worsening of symptoms after activity (post-exertional malaise), difficulties with thinking ("brain fog"), poor sleep, and widespread pain. Increasing evidence shows that these illnesses also share similar underlying biological problems. These include ongoing inflammation, problems with the autonomic nervous system (which controls automatic body functions), poor function of the blood vessels, and reduced energy production in cells.
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Whole-Body Cryotherapy (WBCT) is emerging as a promising non-drug treatment that may help break these cycles. WBCT involves very short, controlled exposure to extreme cold (around -110°C to -160°C). This triggers a rapid response across the nervous, immune, and metabolic systems. The cold acts as a powerful stimulus, encouraging the body to reset imbalanced systems. A session briefly narrows blood vessels and then causes them to widen again, improving blood flow and supporting healthy vessel function. WBCT also appears to reduce inflammation, lower oxidative stress, and improve parasympathetic ("rest-and-recover") nervous system activity.
Early studies in ME/CFS and related conditions are encouraging. Small trials have reported reduced fatigue, clearer thinking, and better autonomic regulation after a course of WBCT sessions, with good safety. Research has also shown changes in blood-brain barrier proteins after WBCT, suggesting it may help repair "leaky" barriers that can drive symptoms in ME/CFS and Long COVID.
By acting on inflammation, blood flow, and nervous system balance at the same time, WBCT could offers a scientifically grounded and potentially transformative approach in understanding the mechanism behind observed treatment effect.
The group in the trial
- Cryotherapy Intervention (all)Treatment being tested
10 sessions administered over 2 consecutive weeks. Sessions will be conducted in an indirect liquid nitrogen-cooled cryochamber with a prechamber set at -60∘°C and a main chamber at -120∘°C. To maximise safety and tolerability in this sensitive patient population, the protocol features a gradual increase in exposure time. Following a 30-second familiarisation step (pre-chamber) followed by a 2-minute exposure in the main chamber will increase incrementally from 2 minute on day 1 to a maximum of 3.5 minutes on day 10
Treatment: Cryotherapy
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Whole-body Cryotherapy in Those With Chronic Fatigue: A Feasibility Study
- Plain-language title
- Whole-body cold exposure for chronic fatigue illnesses including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and long COVIDGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT07874217, who can take part
- Record updated
- 5 November 2026