Why Use Ice?

There are many proven benefits to icing your head and neck to promote healing, manage pain, lessen concussion symptoms**, and aid in recovery.  A summary of that information can be found here or for more in-depth scientific studies you can visit our sister site IceYourHead.com

A Summary of What We Know Today About Icing Your Head:

• Core and brain temperature are naturally elevated after exertion or injury and normalizing that temperature is an important aspect of recovery. External cooling applied to the head and neck can be effective at lowering brain temperature by small amounts and these reductions in temperature have a positive impact on healing.

• ** Researchers in New Zealand have shown that head and neck cooling is effective in managing clinical symptoms after suffering a sports related concussion. Both male and female study participants exhibited lower Concussion Symptom Scale (CSS) scores after wearing the Cryohelmet for an average of about 20 minutes. Click here to read the full study.

• Using ice on your head and neck to reduce migraine pain has been a commonly accepted practice for decades and many people respond very well to cold therapy for migraines and other headache disorders.

• Accidents happen in sports and in everyday life. Icing your head can soothe the pain from minor bumps and bruises and there are very few convenient ways to ice your entire head and neck at once for longer periods of time.

• An accumulation of small head impacts over time can have similar negative effects on brain health to one large impact and preliminary studies show that cooling can help to minimize these effects.

• Hospitals utilize selective hypothermia to minimize brain damage after cardiac arrest, stroke, and severe head trauma.

Why Not Ice Your Head?

• Research to date on icing your head and neck shows positive effects with no known negative consequences.

• Ice is commonly used to treat many forms of injuries to the rest of your body.

• Psychologically, you just feel better when you cool your head and neck in hot conditions and there are proven benefits to athletic performance from icing in between hard efforts in the heat.

• We believe that all sports teams and athletic trainers should have a method of applying cooling to the head and neck on hand, such as the Cryohelmet, for treatment of minor head injuries, heat illnesses, and for acute treatment of concussions.

Keep in mind, icing your head is not a substitute for seeking proper medical attention for a head injury.  It is important that you talk to a medical professional after any blow to the head or in any case of a potential concussion.