The Sideline Cooling System is a portable personal cooling device designed to improve performance and accelerate recovery for athletes of all ages and sports–from contact football to endurance cycling. The system consists of a lightweight, flexible Cooling Cap through which ice-chilled coolant is circulated from a Mobile Cooling Unit.
Despite accounting for ~10% of body surface area, the head does double duty as major heat exchanger & thermostat for the body.
Precooling is a popular strategy to combat heat stress and improve endurance, with studies demonstrating its efficacy in lowering pre-exercise core temperature, increasing heat storage capacity, and improving exercise performance in humid and hot conditions. Indeed, even in moderate temperature, cooling can have a significant impact: in one study, subjects were asked to cycle as hard as possible for 1 hour at 65°F with and without pre-cooling. With pre-cooling, cyclists increased their work rate by 7% and extended time to exhaustion by 12%, while reducing both sweat and heart rates. |
Further Reading
COOLING FOR PERFORMANCE
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The Effect of Cooling Prior to and During Exercise on Exercise Performance and Capacity in the Heat
Tyler CJ, Sunderland C, Cheung SS. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2013 Aug 14. Cooling the Neck Region During Exercise in the Heat
Tyler CJ, Sunderland C. Journal of Athletic Training. 2011 Jan-Feb;46(1):61-8. Effects of Warm-Up and Precooling on Endurance Performance in the Heat
Uckert S, Joch W. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2007 Jun;41(6):380-4. The Effects of Head and Neck Cooling on Thermoregulation, Pace Selection and Performance
Palmer CD, Sleivert GG, Cotter JD. International Thermal Physiology Symposium. 2001. |
COOLING FOR RECOVERY
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A Novel Head-Neck Cooling Device for Concussion Injury in Contact Sports
Wang H, Wang B, Jackson K, Miller C, Hasadsri L, Llano D, Rubin R, Zimmerman J, Johnson C, Sutton B. Translational Neuroscience. 2015 Jan;6(1). Rapid and Selective Cerebral Hypothermia Achieved Using a Cooling Helmet
Wang H, Olivero W, Lanzino G, Elkins W, Rose J, Honings D, Rodde M, Burnham J, Wang D. Journal of Neurosurgery. 2004 Feb;100(2):272-7. Noninvasive Selective Brain Cooling by Head and Neck cooling is Protective in Severe TBI
Qiu W, Shen H, Zhang Y, Wang W, Liu W, Jiang Q, Luo M, Manou M. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. 2006 Dec;13(10):995-1000. Effects of Therapeutic Hypothermia on Inflammasome Signaling After Traumatic Brain Injury
Tomura S, de Rivero Vaccari JP, Keane RW, Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism. 2012 Oct;32(10):1939-47. Post-Traumatic Brain Hypothermia Provides Protection from Sensorimotor and Cognitive Behavioral Deficits
Bramlett HM, Green EJ, Dietrich WD, Busto R, Globus MY, Ginsberg MD. Journal of Neurotrauma. 1995 Jun;12(3):289-98. Post-Traumatic Brain Hypothermia Reduces Histopathological Damage Following Concussive Brain Injury in the Rat
Dietrich WD, Alonso O, Busto R, Globus MY, Ginsberg MD. Acta Neuropathologica. 1994;87(3):250-8. Neuroprotective Mechanisms of Hypothermia in Brain Ischaemia
Yenari MA, Han HS. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2012 Feb 22;13(4):267-78. A Military-Centered Approach to Neuroprotection for Traumatic Brain Injury
Shear DA, Tortella FC. Frontiers in Neurology. 2013 Jun 12;4:73. Mild Hyperthermia Worsens the Neuropathological Damage Associated with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats
Sakurai A, Atkins CM, Alonso OF, Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Journal of Neurotrauma. January 20, 2012, 29(2): 313-321. Prophylactic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury: a Quantitative Systematic Review
Fox JL, Vu EN, Doyle-Waters M, Brubacher JR, Abu-Laban R, Hu Z. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2010 Jul;12(4):355-64. |