Jan 29, 2015

New Ice Bath Alternative Being Used By Professional and College Sports Teams

While it is agreed that ice bathes, or cold therapy, is crucial to keeping professional athletes in peak performance, the way to deliver cold-water therapy to multiple athletes, in a cost effective, sanitary, timely manner has become an issue for many Professional Athletic Trainers.
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Providing cold therapy to multiple athletes at once requires an incredible amount of staff hours to create or haul ice, and continually fill, drain, sanitize, and refill the whirlpool.
With the increased risk of resistant forms of bacteria, using steel whirlpools for multiple users, is not only a time consuming choice, it is becoming a risky choice, as well.
Head Athletic Trainer for the NHL’s Boston Bruins Don DelNegro (MS,ATC(L),CSCS) notes, “Since the onset of MRSA in the athletic environment, the cold whirlpool/tub has always been a high risk area for infection and disease.”

Professional athletic trainers are discovering an alternative method of providing cold therapy to their teams, solving the problems (time, maintenance, disinfection, and cost) associated with using steel whirlpools, the Cold Tub.

“The PolarPool™ has helped solve that problem with its multilayer level of protection against bacteria and germs. Since we got our PolarPool™ there is no more cleaning, disinfecting, filling, and transporting hundreds of pounds of ice into the Athletic Training room everyday to prepare a cold whirlpool.” says Don Del Negro.

Atlantic Thrashers (NHL) Head Athletic Trainer, Tommy Alva, says of his Cold Tub, “The PolarPool is great for helping our players recover from practices and games. The design of the PolarPool enables multiple players to treat simultaneously thereby enhancing our ability to maximize the team’s physical preparation and performance.”

The benefits of using a Cold Tub over ice baths and steel whirlpool are:

• Cold Tubs can seat multiple athletes at one time.

• With a built-in mechanical filtration system and antibacterial coating, it is safe for multiple users. Resistant microbes cannot colonize in the tub, making it MRSA resistant.

• There is no need for draining and sanitizing after each use. This saves many teams the cost of hundreds of gallons of water each year, and frees up athletic trainers time to concentrate on the more important details of their job.

• The Coldtub is completely portable and fits through any standard doorway. There are no special construction requirements. It plugs into a standard 110v socket.

• The ColdTub can be used for both warm and cold water therapy. It can be set to as low as 40 degrees F, and will keep that water at that temperature, without adding ice. Or as high as 140 degrees F.

The Cold Tub is quickly becoming the most preferred and trusted method of providing cold therapy for multiple users over ice bathes or steel whirlpools. It is currently being used by the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Atlanta Thrashers, and dozens of colleges across North America.

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