The questions continue regarding new Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown and his feet.

We tried to answer some of the medical questions four days ago. But yesterday a new report emerged of “frostbite” from a cryotherapy machine.

This did not seem to make medical sense.

For one, cryotherapy treatment is for just a few minutes. Frostbite doesn’t happen that quickly — with or without proper protection. Second, the pattern of injury does not appear to be frostbite, as the cold causes vasoconstriction that would be most prominent in the toes and the cold air touches more of the circumference of toes. Also, the sole of the foot would be most protected, as one typically stands on a platform so the cold air doesn’t really touch that part of the skin surface.


If there was a “malfunction” or liquid nitrogen leak that pooled at the bottom of the feet, the arch would be most affected, as it is exposed away from the standing surface. And it was not in Brown’s case.

Finally, none of this explains the green (likely psuedomonas infection) or the macerated foot appearance.

Even if someone used the chamber longer than prescribed or there was a malfunction, one would feel the pain and burn of frostbite before real damage was done. Further, frostbite turns the skin black, which we do not see on Brown’s feet.

Today, a clarification comes from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, which describes a “cryogenic chamber mishap” (which does not necessarily mean “frostbite” but could “burn” the feet from the cold). This report coupled with our previous analysis makes complete sense to me.


My opinion is that Brown was suffering from macerated feet from too much moisture while training. In some ways, this is a milder form of “trench foot” seen in soldiers from World War I. This medically seems to be the primary problem.

Assuming Brown then used a cryotherapy machine without proper foot protection, in wet socks or with “wet” macerated feet, the cold would conduct against the moisture. It would then freeze the skin only on the moist soles of the outer layer of skin on his feet and not on his toes, tops of his feet or arch.

This conduction is comparable to how one can tolerate cold in freezing weather for a few minutes without a jacket but cannot survive a few minutes in the freezing cold ocean. The superficial moist skin could indeed freeze. This is not technically frostbite, but it certainly could have exacerbated the underlying condition with frost burn.

This seems to be the most logical explanation.


As is often the case when you hear two different stories about the same thing, the truth lies in the middle. Indeed, the macerated moist skin is the main issue that causes the superinfection with pseudomonas, but the cryotherapy mishap didn’t help the situation.

In any case, it still seems Brown is on path to return well before the regular season.

On the HBO show “Hard Knocks,” it was demonstrated that he could run but that hard cuts put extra pressure on the soles of his feet and cause potentially more delamination.

This should resolve soon. It might affect his preseason time with new quarterback Derek Carr but should not come close to affecting his regular season availability.