Cold Water Therapy Death

[StridTheKiller]

www.thesun.co.uk/news/18383425/woman-dies-celebrity-cold-water-therapy-coleen-rooney/

This is so sad. Is this therapy safe?

It's cold water shock I think. It said they acclimated properly but maybe she needed more time

Acutely having read that again, it's not far from where I live and that place is extraordinarily cold, it's also got a bit of a current and it's very deep.

I don't understand how people can set up a business like this with no medical training or knowledge. Sounds incredibly irresponsible.

No surprise. Much 'therapy' is simply a way to part the insecure from their money. Ditto cults. Be more aware. Anyone can call themselves a therapist which is a disservice to those who spend years training in a particular field.

People have heart attacks whilst exercising, should that be banned too?.

I looked on Facebook and it seems to be a thing - people slowly immersing in cold weather for mental health and well-being. Weird. Poor woman but it seems to be a one off.

^^ THIS X100

To be any type of therapist (including counsellor, coach or psychotherapist) you need exactly 0 days of training or to belong to any professional body. You just need to call yourself one. You can get training if you want, but that's up to the individual. It's a sh*t show in many areas and no chance of proper regulation.

If feel sad for this woman's family and friends.

I believe there is a tv series where contestants partake in this 'therapy'. How can a TV company think this is a responsible thing to promote?

Cold water swimming/dipping/showering is all the rage at the moment. I live by the beach and there is a group of women here who go in the sea every day of the year. It’s apparently really good for you and I’d like to try it but I’m not brave enough.

There is always a risk when getting into very cold water and it sounds as though participants had been informed of this and signed a waiver accordingly.

I’m not sure the owner should refer to himself as a therapist though as PP said.

Loads of people I know swim in the sea or lakes all year round, some that I know of are at least 60 years old. Like any exercise or water sport you need to be sensible but I hardly think we need to ban it. Youngish people can and do die of undiagnosed/unknown heart conditions.

Studies have found lots of benefits www.healthline.com/health/cold-water-therapy#how-to-use

I'm not taking away that this is an absolute tragedy for the woman and her family.

Isn't it a well known fact that suddenly plunging into very cold water can be dangerous? I've been aware of this for years and I'm no doctor!!

Some people can have undiagnosed heart arrhythmias (long QT syndrome) that predispose them to cardiac arrests in cold water shock, and other situations. Interestingly long QT syndrome is also one of the heart problems associated with COVID vaccines.

Whereas the vast majority people are fine but cold. Whatever floats your boat!!

I did a Wim Hof training course with work a few weeks back in the Lake District, it was mainly indoors with lots of breathing exercises and information on how to warm up quickly after cold water therapy. Towards the end of the day we did all go into the river, it was v cold but we all felt brilliant. We were warmed up quickly afterwards with soup and blankets.
We did have to complete health questionnaires and one of the party was advised not to get in due to a heart condition.
I really enjoyed the training, the breathing exercises were brilliant and I'd definitely go river swimming again.
Very upsetting and sad about the woman who died, she may have had an underlying health condition she wasn't aware of.
I don't think it's fair to say ALL these therapists/instructors are charlatans. Our instructor worked with Wim Hof for five years, she knew her stuff.

I'm a cold water swimmer and I find the way this is reported very confusing. Initially they say she plunged into ice cold water (incredibly dangerous). Later on they say she gradually got into a river in late April.

There's a huge difference in the risks of these two things. Plunging (which I take to mean jumping or diving) into cold water is dangerous even for experienced swimmers. Ice cold water (just above freezing) is a very different prospect from a river in April. Where I swim it's currently around 12 degrees, which is really cold if you're not used to cold water but a completely different level of risk to freezing water.

All cold water swimming carries risks. But the article does a really bad job of presenting how risky the thing this woman did was. Suspect it's only in the paper because of the Coleen Rooney connection.

Skiing is dangerous too

This is devastatingly tragic, my thoughts are with her family, but its very possible she may have had an unknown genetic heart issue. There have been a few footballers who have collapsed mid game and also died- are we going to ban football aswell? What about Natasha Richardson who died after hitting her head skiing?- ban that too? People have also died of heat stoke after spending the day in the hot sun on the beach- should we also ban sunbathing?

Where does it end?

I'm not a cold water swimmer and noted this as well.

Isn’t this similar to the Scandinavians getting into ice cold water after they’ve been in a sauna? It’s not new.

everything can carry a risk, I’m not sure this is any riskier than anything else? Tragic yes.

Thankyou @DurhamDurham that is interesting and informative.
The death rate of this 'therapist' is 1 in 1100. Not sure of stats. re. skiing, exercising, sunbathing etc but this seems high?

Cold water swimming/dipping/showering is all the rage at the moment. It’s apparently really good for you

I’ve seen it too. Many people claiming “it’s good for you” but I haven’t seen any evidence for those claims. What exactly does getting into freezing cold water do and how does it benefit you?

i was a swimmer in my youth and unheated pools were relatively common, including outdoor. I remember getting into some so cold you couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. I don’t think it did me any good though!

@Reallyreallyborednow , if you Google it, there are quite a few articles about it. Improved circulation is one supposed benefit, but I think the biggest one might be mental health benefits.

I’ve only ever immersed myself in very cold water a couple of times. Once was when I jumped into a pool under a waterfall in Spain. Another time was at the thermal spa in Bath where you are invited to pour a load of freezing cold water on your head straight after you’ve been in the steam room.

Both times I definitely got a sort of ‘high’. Just felt really alive and refreshed. Endorphins, I guess.

And that feeling where you can’t catch your breath for a moment- yes, that’s what I got. I found that quite exhilarating but I guess some people would find it alarming.

Presenting a death rate of 1 in 1100 as a useful statistic is completely disingenuous. It might be factually accurate but is one of those examples of being able to show anything with statistics.

A more useful measure would be the number of people who have died in similar situations, cold water swimming, similar therapy groups etc. if you read the article there was no “plunging” and it sounds very similar to slowly getting into cold water for swimming, albeit it it seems this was very cold for this country from what a PP says. I would be interested to hear that.

It’s awful, but someone dying of cold water shock like this is very rare. I swim in temps of as little as 0c all year round without a wetsuit but have acclimatised to doing so and done bit by bit, it’s incredibly beneficial.

Cambridge University are currently doing research into the benefits of cold water exposure on delaying dementia. Anedotly I know several women who sea swim and believe it helps with their menopause symptoms. I live near a, lido and kniw lots of people who outdoor swim and find it exhilarating but aware it is risky