Cryochaps Horse Ice Boots After Exercise
Cryochaps cooling boots for horses are designed to replicate ice bath therapy used for human athletes. Ice therapy is thought to reduce the pain and swelling associated with trauma after exercise and helps to initiate healing. Hence, cooling after exercise with ice cold water is already used to aid recovery in human athletes.
After intense training or competition, cooling the horses legs with ice boots, may, like in human studies, promote a faster recovery and better performance for the next day. Cryochaps combine both ice and compression to decrease leg temperatures and this in turn could reduce the inflammation and swelling naturally caused in the soft tissues by exercise. Icing is also known to act as a pain reliever, so Cryochaps may offer pain relief to tired legs, some horses do go to sleep whilst they are getting their Cryochaps ice therapy.
It is already common practice in many equine disciplines to ice or cold wrap the legs after training and competitions. Application of Cryochaps ice wraps for horses can become part of your horse’s post-exercise cool down routine to hopefully reduce the chance of strain injuries to the lower leg and decrease temperatures that get to very high levels in boots and bandages, or when doing fast work.
Using Our Cooling Boots for Horses After Using Boots and Bandages
As your horse moves, the tendons in the lower legs, such as the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon (SDFT) and the Deep Digital Flexor Tendon (DDFT) stretch and recoil. This generates heat, and the faster and longer your horse works, the more heat is generated. A study by Wilson & Goodship (1994) found temperatures of 45°C in the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon (SDFT) when measuring heat produced inside the tendons of a galloping horse.
Excessive, prolonged exposure of the tendons to heat risks causing damage. This is because the heat damages the tenocytes, which can result in tendon cell death. A study by Birch et al. 1997 found that 10 min of heating at 45 °C, the tendon fibroblast cell death was as high as 10%. Over time, repeated exposure to high temperatures can make the soft tissues more vulnerable to more significant damage and injuries.
Cryochaps cooling ice boots for horses can be used immediately after exercise and have been tested to prove decreases in surface leg temperatures.
The Theory Behind Cryochaps Ice Boots for Horses
Exercise is said to cause tiny tears in tissues, including muscle, tendons and ligaments. This is known as micro trauma. However, rapidly reducing tissue temperatures after exercise by using ice baths has three main impacts:
Cryochaps act as an ice and compression application and could be seen to mimic the ice bath effects . When ice and compression are removed, there is a sudden rush of reoxygenated blood, and oxygen is known to kick start the healing process.
Evidence from studies in humans suggests that a water temperature of less than 10 degrees celsius and an immersion time of 10-15 minutes demonstrated the best results. Cryochaps ice boots for horses have been designed to recreate this ice bath environment brigiing down suface leg temperatures to less than 10 degrees celsius. Cryochaps ice wraps for horses have superb cold transfer, which is enabled by the ice wraps having a novel compression sleeve, pressing the cold temperatures deep into the leg. Ice and compression have been seen to accelerate the cold effects in human trials.
Ice and Compression After Exercise has Been Found To:
With Cryochaps, your horse can benefit from cold therapy after every hack, training session or competition! All you have to do is wrap, strap and leave on for 10-15 minutes.
*in humans
Surface leg temp (degrees) V Time (Mins)
