This study sought to a) compare and contrast the effect of 2 commonly used cryotherapy treatments, 4 min of -110 degrees C whole body cryotherapy and 8 degrees C cold water immersion, on knee skin temperature and b) establish whether either protocol was capable of achieving a skin temperature (<13 degrees C) believed to be required for analgesic purposes. After ethics committee approval and written informed consent was obtained, 10 healthy males (26.5 +/- 4.9yr, 183.5 +/- 6.0cm, 90.7 +/- 19.9kg, 26.8 +/- 5.0kg/m(2), 23.0 +/- 9.3% body fat; mean +/- SD) participated in this randomised controlled crossover study. Skin temperature around the patellar region was assessed in both knees via non-contact, infrared thermal imaging and recorded pre-, immediately post-treatment and every 10min thereafter for 60min. Compared to baseline, average, minimum and maximum skin temperatures were significantly reduced (p<0.001) immediately post-treatment and at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60min after both cooling modalities. Average and minimum skin temperatures were lower (p<0.05) immediately after whole body cryotherapy (19.0 +/- 0.9 degrees C) compared to cold water immersion (20.5 +/- 0.6 degrees C). However, from 10 to 60min post, the average, minimum and maximum skin temperatures were lower (p<0.05) following the cold water treatment. Finally, neither protocol achieved a skin temperature believed to be required to elicit an analgesic effect.