CLOSED: Day 8 : Arctic Ease Review & Giveaway 1/31

 If you've never had the opportunity to try Arctic Ease products this giveaway is for you.  My husband recently had knee surgery so we had the opportunity to test out the wraps first hand as soon as they were delivered.  He had been putting his leg up every night and applying the good ole' baggie of ice with a towel around it to his knee every night as the doctor specified. Well...that was up until we received the Arctic Ease Wraps! WOW they were amazing. No more leaky baggies of ice (or wasting of baggies), no more trying to get just the right amount of cold to the knee with the towel barrier trying to prevent freezing his knee.  Now he just pulls the roll out of the package wraps his knee up and kicks back to relax! Much easier and a lot dryer! He said it is much nicer having the wrap that goes all the way around his knee as opposed to a gallon size bag of ice trying to position that to cover as much as possible.  And then when he is all done, we just re-roll it up and stick it back in it's original pouch, add a tablespoon of cold water and seal it up for the next night.

Arctic Ease is available in both pads and wraps, so it is convenient for whatever body part has aches and pains.  I am going to make sure we always have them on hand from now on. My kids seem to always be twisting something, or my son is aching from a long ball game.  Now I can pull one of these out and put it right on the achy spot without even pulling out the baggies and ice!  I would definitely recommend these to anyone with kids in sports, keep one in their sport bag for those unforeseen accidents even.

Want to know more?  Here is information from Arctic Ease:

The products work through conduction and evaporation; basically it removes the heat from the underlying tissue and evaporates it off.  Thus over a period of time (4-6 hours on average) the outer layers of the wrap will begin to dry and begin to feel like a soft cast, this is normal and shows that the product is working.

The product can be easily recharged by several methods, including lightly dampening the outer layers with cool water while wearing it; or removing the wrap, rolling it back onto the core with the outer most layer started on the supplied core and returning the rolled wrap to the retail package, adding 1-2 tablespoons of water and letting it sit on a shelf, cupboard, etc for 2-3 hours to recharge, then reapplying the wrap to your knee.  A rapid way to recharge the wrap is to roll it up, then run the wrap under cool water, squeeze out all of the excess water then reapply the wrap.  http://www.arcticease.com/instructions.php?reuse=Y#reuse

The one piece of advice that I can give you is that the “great American way of if a little is a good thing a lot must be better” does not hold true for this product, a little water goes a long way, if you over-hydrate the product it will lose the ability to adhere to itself.  Thus, follow the instructions of 1 to 2 tablespoons for a full size wrap (4” x 60” – 5ft) or 1 to 2 teaspoons of water for samples (2” x 20”).  If you want the wrap colder, refrigerate the wrap, an average refrigerator temperature is 39°F, within 5 minutes of the wrap on a knee or other joint the wrap is at approximately 60°F, which is above the 59°F threshold that increases the risk for tissue/nerve damage

The adage that “Colder is Better” is a misnomer that has an unknown history.  Clinical data has shown that when tissue temperature is reduced to 15°C (59°F) or lower the risk for tissue and nerve damage increases significantly.  To achieve proper compliance, one must be diligent in placing ice on and removing it after 10-20 minutes.  Then repeat these actions over and over at specific intervals.  The average consumer does not follow this procedure properly and therefore places themselves at risk for “overcooling” to the point of tissue and/or nerve damage.  Or not applying ice long enough to relieve the injury due to the discomfort of applying ice in the first place. 

What differentiates Arctic Ease from current market offering is the ability to deliver hours of targeted cold therapy.  Ready to use right out of the pouch, Arctic Ease lets you relieve pain and swelling of acute injuries without having to deal with the risks, mess and inconvenience of ice and gel packs.  Arctic Ease eliminates this inconvenience, reduces the risk and discomfort associated with temperature extremes and makes it easier to get relief from pain and swelling so you can get back to doing what you want to do.  Advantages of the product include hours of targeted cold therapy use in a reusable, odorless and eco-friendly compound. Due to the product’s design, therapy is more effective and consistent due to the targeting of injured joints and tissues. 

Buy it:  You can find Arctic Ease products online and a several retailers 

Giveaway CLOSED - Congratulations to the winner you have been notified via email and have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.

Win it: One lucky reader will win a 4-pack of  Cryotherapy Wraps and an Arctic Ease t-shirt. This giveaway will end Jan 31st at 10 PM EST. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. If no response, a new winner will be chosen.  Open to residents of the US only.

Mandatory Entry: (Mandatory entry must be completed first or bonus entries don't count.)
Tell me why you want to win this product, or who you want to win it for. Leave a comment below, then use the form for bonus entries.

Disclosure:  Thanks to PR Firm/sponsor I was provided with this product(s) for the purpose of my personal review. This blog post is not a paid post and the honest opinions stated are my own.