Device Cools Athletes From the Inside Out
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 9, 2003 — -- Pro athletes are starting to find much-needed relief from hot workouts right in the palms of their hands.
Heat problems have killed 21 pro football players since 1995. Recently, the widow of Korey Stringer, a lineman for the Minnesota Vikings who died two years ago, sued the NFL, saying strenuous exercise in extreme heat contributed to her husband's death.
"The largest cause of death in football, you'd think, would be head and neck injuries, but the largest cause of death is heatstroke," said Jerry Attaway, a coach for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.
But now, by slipping their hands into a new device called Rapid Thermal Exchange, overheated players can reduce their core body temperatures in just a few minutes.
"During our camp, it could be 105 degrees, and I'll run over here and stick my hand in here," said 49ers cornerback Ahmed Plummer. "That will kind of help me to cool down and get ready to go out there for the next play."
Natural Radiator Point
The new device works like this: The palm of the hand, a natural radiator point, is placed over a water-cooled steel plate inside a vacuum chamber. The suction then draws the warm blood from the body's core out to the palm, where the plate cools it. The cooler blood then recirculates to the body's core.
"We can extract heat three to five times faster than any other technique that is available today for extracting heat," said Julian Nikolchev, CEO of AVAcore Technologies of Palo Alto, Calif., which markets Rapid Thermal Exchange.
The system is believed to be better than cooling off with a bucket of ice. Biologists say ice would be counterproductive because extreme cold causes blood vessels to contract, restricting blood flow.
Once the price of the machine drops below its current cost of about $3,000, the device could have more widespread, nonathletic applications. For example, it could protect those who work in extreme heat or reduce the damaging effects of a stroke en route to the hospital.
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