Introduction

Our revolutionary TomGus Cooling Boots stay cold for up to three hours dependently the outside temperature. Excellent convenience and continuous cooling effects throughout the entire comfort cooling process of your horse’s leg is provided. These characteristics prevent adverse effects and accelerate healing of tendons, ligaments, muscles and connective tissues.
During this procedure the cooling elements conform to the horse’s leg and provide excellent compression by assisting the comfort cooling procedure.
These unique TST cooling packs re-freezes easily within in a bucket of cold-cold water in approximately five to ten minutes, overnight in a refrigerator or in a room with a temperature below 68 °F.
The cooling packs used in our TomGus Boots utilize a unique formula of Sodium Sulfate with no hazardous ingredients or non-toxic properties included.
None adverse effects in contact with skin or eyes or toxic properties by inhalation or ingestion have been found.

  
R. C. C. C Technique

The R. C. C. C technique is a unique mechanism for treatment of acute horse’s leg injuries.
The most important time in treatment of acute injuries is the first 48 hours, when soft tissue damage occurs, for example, when a muscle tears, blood vessels rupture and the injury site begin to swell. This increase in blood volume in the area can cause cell death by what is known as secondary hypoxic injury.
Thus every effort should be made to control excessive bleeding.

The R.C. C. C technique involves all the components that are needed to prevent further injury to the damaged site, to be used immediately after the injury has been sustained - If applied correctly and in time this technique can greatly recover time for your horse.

In order to completely understand the therapeutic mechanism behind the R. C. C. C method, knowledge of the horse’s body intrinsic reaction to tissue damage and inflammatory response is needed.

The equine leg cooling therapy is important, no matter, whether a companion or performer, your horse is an athlete who can easily overheat even in normal daily training.
Remember, when your horse runs, jumps and lands, cutting stops and turns, slide stops in reining, etc – it create incredible stress on the lower leg tendons which stretch and contract, supporting tons of impact force.
Clinical tests have shown – When tendon tissues are under strain, heat from the area can increase to 113 °F in such a little time as seven minutes after rigorous training.
When heat is sustained over a long period, necrosis and rupture of tendon fibers can result in further injuries for your horse.

Your horse is a serious risk for sprains, tendon injuries, painful tissue inflammation and sore skin. By cooling the area immediately after an injury has been discovered can reduce the likelihood of tendon cell necrosis and need for acute care.
Important is, to understand the anatomy of horse’s leg injury – What happens when a leg injury occur?

The tissue injury triggers a chemical reaction at the cellular level, releasing hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins and histamines into the injured area.
Damaged capillaries discharge cellular waste such as water, dissolved electrolytes and proteins, into the surrounding tissue, and the horse’s body responds by sending leukocytes or scavenger cells into the area to remove damaged tissue and kill bacteria.
When tendon fibers rupture, the tissue injury results in inflammation which releases cytokines and increase blood flow. Cytokines and metabolites released from tissues are what cause the heat, pain and swelling.

The TomGus Comfort Cooling Therapy system is an excellent mechanism for post-exercise cool down and for cooling horse’s leg therapy. It soothes sprains, soreness and inflammations.
This leg cooling therapy has been proven effective in addressing these chemical reactions to minimize damage and help your horse heal faster after an injury.
It works like a local anesthetic to reduce pain and muscle spasm dramatically. If it is used immediately after an injury, it acts as a vasoconstrictor, narrowing the blood vessels to diminish bleeding and minimize swelling – it slows the conduction rate of sensory receptors and limiting pain messages to the brain.
The TomGus Comfort Cooling Therapy mechanism also reduces tissue temperature such as lowering the metabolic rate of cells in the area, both injured and uninjured which decreases their demand for oxygen, minimizes the onset of tendonitis and accelerate the horse’s natural healing process.

To summarize how the process of cold therapy works

• First the cooling therapy helps to decrease blood flow to the injured area, which helps minimize swelling and inflammation, dissipate heat and alleviate pain.

• At the same time cold therapy slows the metabolism of the tissue surrounding the injury, which helps minimize further damage and speed up the healing process. By reducing the metabolic rate, the TST cooling packs dramatically reduces the cell oxygen requirements – thus when blood flow has been limited by vasoconstriction, then the risk of cell death due to oxygen demands (secondary cell necrosis) will be lessened. 

• The TST Cooling Packs are being useful for pain relief and therefore beneficial in reducing muscle spasm – muscle spasms are most often a consequence of pains.

          What is muscle spasm? It’s then the muscles surrounding the injury contract to           protect it (muscle guarding) and prevent further damages.  

• If used properly – this unique cooling therapy can help improve a wide range of muscle joints and soft tissue injuries.
  
  

The letters R. C. C. C are abbreviations for

R – Rest
C – Comfort
C – Cooling
C – Compression

Each component functions to help limit swelling and decrease pain of injury.

REST

Rest is the first line of action for any horse’s leg injury. “No legs – None Horse” – It does not only refer to a prolonged period of time following the injury but also relates to resting immediately from further activities.
If an injury is sustained during a competition activity some riders or horse owners have a tendency to just “run it of”.
A rider must know when to stop training or showing his horse – minor injuries can commonly result in large scale injury that could have been prevented by using the R.C.C.C technique.
How does the body react to an injury? – Independently how small the injury is, tissues have either been stretched or by an impact causing blood vessels to be torn or damaged. The extent of bleeding will depend on the vascularity of the tissues involved and may be increased if further exercise continues.
Blood will flow out until the vessels are restricted (vasoconstriction), so preventing further blood leaking into the tissues.
Most important is, to stop the bleeding into tissues as the blood will act as an irritant and increase the inflammation which has to be cleaned from the tissues before the healing process can properly commence.

COMFORT

The effects of a comfort cooling therapy of an injury are important to achieve a number of beneficial effects. Fast application of these revolutionary TST cooling packs can be an important factor in the long-term recovery of your horse’s leg injury – no risk for further injuries because of to cold therapy. 
By applying these TST-Cooling Packs to the horse’s leg - containing a medium with a comfort temperature without any signs of shock symptoms or apparent adverse effects from the horse – is comfort cooling.


COOLING

To use cold therapy after the daily intensive training or competition may help horses with chronic conditions, such as weak tendons and ligaments from a past injury.

When using the TomGus Cooling Boots no consideration needs to be taken to the cold medium in these packs – dependently of no risk to damage your horse’s skin or underlying tissues because of to cold medium.

By cooling the area immediately after the injury has been discovered can reduce the likelihood of tendon cell necrosis and need for acute veterinarian treatment.
Although blood still flows into the area the amount of swelling is significantly less when the cooling packs are used. This decreased swelling or edema allows more movements in the muscles and so lessens the functional loss associated with the injury.
The swelling associated with the inflammatory response also causes a pressure increase in the tissue – this leads to the area becoming more painful.
By using the TST cooling packs the pains will be significantly reduced.    

Ice or some chemical packs even colder than ice, which is applied at a temperature of 32 °F or below, has the potential to damage your horse’s skin and underlying tissues.
Clinical tests has shown – If ice or chemical packs with a temperature lower than ice is applied for more than 10 minutes, a reflex reaction occurs (Hunting Effect) where the blood vessels dilate and blood is again pumped into the injured area, causing further bleeding and swelling.

COMPRESSION

After cooling – apply a compression bandage to help minimize the swelling to the tissues.
By applying compression to an injury has the effect of preventive excessive swelling and should be applied for about 24-48 hours from the onset of injury.
Compressions of the limb functions to increase the pressure within the tissue thus narrowing the blood vessels slows down the inflammatory process and so prevent excessive edema building within the joints.
This edema, when present can severely affect the functional ability of the limb.

Compression can be applied by a number of means:

• Most effective is to use a compression bandage which is an elastic tube-like bandage that simply fits around the affected limb

The advantages is – easy to apply and the elastic provides the sufficient pressure needed to stop some of the bleeding within the area

• Alternatively a regular bandage can be used. However, care should be taken not to over-tighten the bandage as this will contribute to tissue death.

If the peripheral limbs become discolored or become cold – it is possible that the bandage is too tight applied. Bandage should begin below the injured site with each layer overlapping the underlying layer

• Compression can be applied by the TomGus Cooling Boots, due to excellent conformability to the horse’s leg during the entire cooling process.

These revolutionary 75,2°F Cooling Packs tend to cool the horse legs underlying tissues more efficiently than any other existing cooling procedure and also remaining cold over a longer period of time.

CRYOSTRETCHING

What is cryostretching? Cryostretching is a technique used to reduce muscles spasm and so increase flexibility – a technique to use immediately after intensive training or competitions or for your companion used for daily exercise – three phases involved in this unique technique:

• TomGus Cold Therapy Application
• Static Stretching
• Contract-Relax Technique

First – cold the horse’s legs for up to one hour to reach the sufficient temperature for the legs to become numb.
Following this two sets of 65 second stretches are applied with a 20 second rest between sets.
Each period of 65 seconds consists mainly of static stretching with three 5 second isometric contractions interspersed through the stretch.
Important – there should not be any pains throughout the procedure.

Why is Cryostretching so Beneficial?

• The TST Cooling Packs reduce the muscles spasm dramatically

• Static stretches overcome the stretch reflex to reduce muscle spasm

• Muscle relaxation is most often greater following a contraction than before the contraction

These three components together are more effective than any individual method – emphasizing the cooling medium having a comfort cooling temperature, not to cold to stiffen the muscles, sinews and ligaments of your horse.

KEYWORDS EXPLANATION

Analgesic intake – intake of painkillers

Chloride – a component of salt; an electrolyte for maintenance of the skeleton, nerves and muscles

Cryotherapy – is the local or general use of low temperature in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part

Cytokines – the cell membrane snipes into two parts so that two individual daughter cells are formed - A ring of actins filament surrounding the point where the daughter cells are kept together and snipe of the plasma membrane so two independent cells are formed - Actins is a protein as together with the motor protein is responsible for the muscle contraction
 
Leukocytes – white blood cells

Histamine – physiologically active amine (nitrogen compound) found in horse’s tissue that stimulates gastric secretion and causes dilation of capillaries, construction of bronchial smooth muscles and decreased blood pressure

Metabolites – organic compounds, including vitamins and essential amino acids, which are starting materials in the metabolic process

Necrosis – death of a cell due to injury

Post-Exercise Muscle Soreness – This is the type of exercise that is generally discovered the day after a strenuous exercise

Prostaglandins – hormone-like substance that help mediate a wide range of physiological functions, such as control of the blood pressure, contraction of smooth muscle and modulation of inflammation

Secondary Hypoxic Injury – cellular damage or cell death due to increased blood volume in the area

Scavenger cell – a cell that engulfs and digests debris an invading microorganisms

Tendonitis – inflammation of a tendon which is tough band of tissue that connect muscles to bone

Vascularity – blood supply in reference to muscle tissue

Vasoconstriction – an agent that cause constriction of a blood vessel