Technology

Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery

What if there were technology that could perform the same function for athletes as a steroid without being illegal or a foreign substance taken in by the body? Stanford University is working on just this.

One of the uses of steroids is to speed recovery time for tired muscles to allow for maximum performance again as quickly as possible. Stanford biologists though stumbled upon a method of thermoregulation that could not only have a similar effect as steroids, but better.

Meet “the glove.”

Stanford Biologists Create The Glove to Quickly Cool Body Temperature and Reduce Muscle Fatigue Time

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Max McClure writes on Stanford News that the specialized glove developed by Stanford biologists Dennis Grahn and Craig Heller has been well covered by the media but how the glove works — and the biological findings associated with it — makes it worth another moment in the spotlight. Not only that but the researchers almost have a commercial product ready.

Humans, like other mammals, have veins known as arteriovenous anastomoses, which help play a role in regulating the body’s core temperature. These veins specifically are located in our hands, face and feet. The glove, as its name implies, focuses on the veins in the palm, acting as a more convenient form of an ice bath:

The newest version of the device is a rigid plastic mitt, attached by a hose to what looks like a portable cooler. When Grahn sticks his hand in the airtight glove, the device creates a slight vacuum. The veins in the palm expand, drawing blood into the AVAs, where it is rapidly cooled by water circulating through the glove’s plastic lining.

Researches have found that in cooling the palm, it has a rapid result of cooling the body’s core as a whole.

“We built a silly device, took it over to the recovery room and, lo and behold, it worked beyond our wildest imaginations,” Heller said to McClure. “Whereas it was taking them hours to re-warm patients coming into the recovery room, we were doing it in eight, nine minutes.”

Watch how the glove works in this Stanford video:

McClure explains the team realized the benefit the glove could have to athletes when a “gym rat” researcher put the device on and noticed a reduction in his muscle fatigue:

[...] after multiple rounds, cooling allowed him to do just as many pull-ups as he did the first time around. So the researchers started cooling him after every other set of pull-ups.

“Then in the next six weeks he went from doing 180 pull-ups total to over 620,” said Heller. “That was a rate of physical performance improvement that was just unprecedented.”

If one’s body were to overheat, McClure explains, it causes an enzyme vital for muscle performance to change its shape, which leads to fatigue. Grahn describes it as the body’s way of saying ”You can’t work that hard anymore, because if you do you’re going to cook and die.” Cooling the body’s core allows the enzyme to return to a functional shape.

In addition to being used for those who love to work out, the glove could have application for those who have practices or other strenuous exercise in hot weather.

“And every year we hear stories about high school athletes beginning football practice in August in hot places in the country, and there are deaths due to hyperthermia,” Heller told McClure. “There’s no reason why that should occur.”

The “better than steroids” claim comes from the biologists finding no negative effect on the body from using the glove.

(H/T: Gizmodo)

Comments (15)

  • Duddio
    Posted on September 3, 2012 at 7:20pm

    $3000?

    Got a food saver at home that can create a vacuum for $150. Now I bet in my own shop I could rig it to a hard plastic jug and hold ice or a cool water bag in my hand while I create the vacuum around it….

    This is way overpriced for general consumption. It can’t cost that much to produce, so they are trying to recoup research costs, which they never will unless they get a military contract for troops in hot weather zones.

    Report Post »  
  • rsanchez1
    Posted on September 2, 2012 at 5:00pm

    As if the gloves pitchers were wearing in the dugout weren’t ridiculous enough already. Who knows, maybe this tech will allow pitchers to actually throw 100 pitches and stay past the 6th inning again.

    Report Post »  
  • Redrivermma
    Posted on September 1, 2012 at 4:44pm

    “better than steroids” is a reach. Makes sense that they would make the claim after they have a product already on the market. The benefits of steroids are many, including the changes to the body’s hydration, protein syntheses and cortisol absorption. The downsides are obvious… so don’t do steroids. ;)

    Report Post » Redrivermma  
  • oinia
    Posted on September 1, 2012 at 12:37pm

    Athletes will have to use this selectively so they don’t acclimate their bodies to depend on it, diminishing performance during competition when it’s unavailable. Use during weight training, but not cardio, might be a good option…or similar alternating use. Otherwise a tool becomes a crutch.

    Overall it sounds awesome. Great job, Stanford.

    Report Post » oinia  
    • hi
      Posted on September 2, 2012 at 10:58am

      Do you think that happens with sports drinks too where one’s body gets used to it? My kid is starting Avocare. Also, I’d rather use a different product without sucralose if you know of one.

      Report Post » hi  
  • jaked1973
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 6:26pm

    This have been around since 2007 There is a commercial device already out there. http://www.gizmag.com/go/7214/

    Report Post »  
    • Ramv36
      Posted on September 1, 2012 at 1:50am

      You DID notice, I hope, that the device in the 2007 article is licensed for sale BY Stanford and the same researchers named in this article. You may call this current development old news, but the researchers themselves probably call the device from 2007, which they most likely licensed-out to raise the research funds for the CURRENT, NEW generation revealed int his article, old news itself.
      We don‘t call every all new model Ford releases ’old news’ just because they were selling the Model T a century ago.

      Report Post »  
    • hi
      Posted on September 2, 2012 at 10:54am

      Ugg! It is $2000+.

      Report Post » hi  
    • hi
      Posted on September 2, 2012 at 10:56am

      oops $3000!

      Report Post » hi  
  • jaked1973
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 6:23pm

    This is old technology: 2007
    http://www.gizmag.com/go/7214/

    Report Post »  
  • Mojoron
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 5:57pm

    You can probably do the same thing by using a device on your (cerebral) head since there is more blood flow in your head than anywhere else in your body, except for Bill Clinton’s penis, but I digress. Granny used to put a cool rag on my neck when I had a headache and it did the same thing, made my head feel better, I just didn’t tell her which one!

    Report Post » Mojoron  
  • Abraham Young
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 5:26pm

    Republicans disavow Reagan

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pKaXqoC4DjE

    Report Post »  
    • OneTermPresident
      Posted on September 1, 2012 at 11:49am

      You keep telling yourself that… in the end it’s nothing more than a YouTube video. You didn’t really think it was a TV channel with a real reporter did you? Great audio… LOL.

      Report Post » OneTermPresident  
  • Miami
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 4:41pm

    This looks really promising

    Report Post » Miami  
  • Infomonger
    Posted on August 31, 2012 at 4:21pm

    Thanks DARPA!!!!

    Now to get this to the Troops. Been too hot and too cold while on duty. This looks like a real useful tool.

    Report Post »  

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