CoreTx - Core Cooling

Enhance performance, recover faster and manage heat stress with the new patented CoreTx core Cooling device.

Stanford University scientists reported performance gains on a par with performance enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids, solely by using their palm cooling device.

By utilising your body’s natural ability to dissipate heat through the non-hairy (glabrous) skin on the palms of your hands, the CoreTx can rapidly extract excess heat. This can relieve heat stress, improve recovery and facilitate performance enhancement on a level previously only associated with the use of drugs.

CoreTx provides state of the art palm cooling, which is a scientifically proven solution for workers or athletes operating in elevated temperatures.

As your core temperature increases beyond the normal range, physical and mental performance quickly declines. This can lead to poor decision making in potentially life-threatening circumstances.

Research carried out by Stanford University and others determined that moderating core temperature through cooling the palm can be an effective strategy for combating heat stress in challenging environments enabling users to perform better for longer.

Whether you are a firefighter needing to recover rapidly while containing a fire, or a soldier operating in hot desert conditions while wearing protective gear or a nurse wearing PPE to protect yourself from biological hazards you can rapidly recover from potential heat stress by moderating your core temperature quickly with the CoreTx, enabling you to more safely and quickly resume your activities.

A session of only 2 or 3 minutes can leave you feeling refreshed and can lower the risk of your core temperature rising to unhealthy levels.

By managing heat stress with regular short sessions using CoreTx palm cooling you can lower the risk of heat stress developing into life threatening heat stroke.

Military personnel, fire-fighters, miners, industrial and construction workers, nursing staff and surgeons are just some examples of work environments where staff can benefit from short palm cooling sessions using the CoreTx.

Please note, the CoreTx is not appropriate for heat stroke – in such circumstances cold water immersion is recommended to quickly reduce the temperature of the patient.

CoreTx provides state of the art palm cooling, which is a scientifically proven technique for increasing workload and strength on a level normally only associated with the use of anabolic steroids or other PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs).

This was the conclusion of researchers at Stanford University following studies into increasing bench press and pull-up capacity which showed performance increases on a par with the use of steroids.

When performing the bench press or other weight training with medium to heavy weights there is normally insufficient aerobic activity to result in a significant increase in the body’s core temperature.

Consequently, scientists have concluded that the palm cooling may be having an effect on the fatigue signals that the muscle is transmitting to the brain thereby enabling the subject to perform more repetitions and lift heavier loads before fatigue sets in or the moderating of blood temperature through palm cooling delays the over-heating of the activated muscles e.g. the pectoral muscles during bench pressing.

See Kwon YS, et al. Palm cooling delays fatigue during high-intensity bench press exercise.  Medicine & Science in Sports Exercise 2010; 42:1557-65.

In the above study participants were able to increase workload volume (both repetitions and total weight pressed) by over 25% using palm cooling compared to no palm cooling.

CoreTx provides state of the art palm cooling, which is a scientifically proven technique enabling athletes to benefit from rapid recovery during intervals in a match.

As your core temperature increases beyond the normal range, physical and mental performance quickly declines. This can lead to poor decision making with negative consequences in a competitive environment or accelerate the onset of fatigue.

At half-time footballers, for example, have limited time to re-hydrate and refuelled as well as receiving tactical input from the coaches so little time is left to perform recovery interventions.

With CoreTx palm cooling players can feel mentally and physically refreshed in as little as 90 seconds. And refreshed players make better decisions as well as benefiting from delayed onset of fatigue. As coaches know only too well fatigue is the main pre-cursor of injury with the final quarter of a match carrying the largest injury risk.

Research by Stanford University scientists established that palm cooling was a rapid and effective means for combating heat stress, delaying fatigue and enabling athletes to perform better during the next stage of the match.

Background

When CET Managing Director, Colin Edgar, met Craig Heller at Stanford University in 2018 they discussed cold water therapy and palm cooling using the Stanford Glove. Professor Heller said they had achieved strength gains using palm cooling that you would normally expect with the use of steroids.

However, the Stanford Core Control Glove has notable limitations. Firstly, is the use of ice for cooling which makes precise temperature control very difficult and the secondly is the fact the device only cools by conduction, which is a relatively inefficient means of heat transfer.

Following a co-incidental request from a football club in Stockholm regarding half-time recovery Mr Edgar set about addressing these limitations and the CoreTx was born.

Recovery Benefits

  • Manage heat stress during games e.g. at half-time.
  • Receive a physical & mental boost.
  • Moderate core temperature.
  • Reduce fatigue.

Performance Benefits

  • Improve work volume.
  • Increase training loads.
  • Power gains on a par with the use of steroids.
  • Trainer harder – less effort.
  • Break through your plateau.

Features include

  • Digitally controlled temperature down to 5°C.
  • Two work stations.
  • Fully self contained unit.
  • Built-in Chiller
  • Plug & play design.
  • RCD / GCFI protected power cable.
  • 12 months warranty.
  • 120v & 230v models available
 

How to use

  • Add 8 litres (2.5 US gals) of water.
  • Add 1 cup of salt.
  • Pre-chill to desired temperature.
  • After use wipe top surface.
  • Quick connect drain.

Power

  • 230v / 1 / 50hz
  • 115v / 1 / 60hz

Dimensions

  • 0.69m x 0.39m x 0.73m (L x W x H)
  • 27″ x 15″ x 29″ (L x W x H)

Weight

  • 50kg (110 lbs)

Chiller

  • Low noise low temperature chiller

Research

Much of the initial research into the efficacy of palm cooling for recovery, performance enhancement & managing heat stress was carried out at Stanford University by Dr Craig Heller and Dr Dennis Grahn.

Professor Heller and Dr Grahn have decades of experience in researching mammalian temperature regulation and working in conjunction with the US Military Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) they developed the Stanford Glove, the first commercial palm cooling device.

A substantial body of peer reviewed research was published by Stanford University and others over a decade. 

Published papers include

Work volume & strength training responses to resistive exercise improve with periodic heat extraction from the palm. Dennis A Grahn, Vinh H Cao, Christopher M Ngyyen, Mengyuan T Liu & H Craig Heller, Department of Biology, Stanford University.  Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 26(9): 2558–2569, 2012—Body core cooling via the palm of a hand increases work volume during resistive exercise.

Kwon YS, Robergs RA, Kravitz LR, Gurney BA, Mermier CM, Schneider SM. Palm cooling delays fatigue during high-intensity bench press exercise.  Medicine & Science in Sports Exercise 2010;42:1557-65.

Kwon YS, Robergs RA, Mermier CM, Schneider SM, Gurney AB. Palm cooling and heating delays fatigue during resistance exercise in women.  Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 2010;29(8):2261-9.

#Chilling4Champions

Frequently Asked Questions

Question not answered?

Why use the CoreTx during breaks in a match?

As you exercise e.g. during a game of football, the core temperature will gradually rise. If the weather is hot it will rise faster and heat stress can result

Research conducted by Stanford University discovered that core temperature can be moderated by cooling the palm of one hand.

The non-hair (glabrous) skin on the palm of the hand (and on the soles of the feet and on the face) contain special blood vessels (AVAs) which proved the body with a way of shedding excess heat rapidly. 

The CoreTx device cools the palm of the hand rapidly through conduction & convection (like wind chill), thereby cooling the blood and moderating core temperature, thus enhancing recovery and improving performance.

How does palm cooling with the CoreTx enhance performance?

Performance can be affected in different ways according to the nature of the exercise.

In endurance sports a major inhibitor of performance is core temperature.  When core temperature or muscle temperature rises above a certain point the ability to perform is impaired.

By moderating blood temperature through palm cooling the body’s ability to continue to perform consequently enhanced.

In strength sports, or during weight training, for example, fatigue signals are transmitted to the brain as the workload increases. It is thought that palm cooling interrupts these signals thereby enabling increased workload to be performed with no perceived additional effort.

How can I break through a plateau?

When you reach a plateau e.g. in a bench press your single rep maximum is 100kg and you cannot get past this barrier.

By utilising palm cooling between sets e.g. if you are bench pressing for 4 sets you should find that the second set and possibly the third set will be equal to or close to the repetitions in the first set.

This tends to happen without any perceived additional effort.

KS Yong et al reported 40% increases in bench press using palm cooling over 6 weeks compared to 13% without.