What is Iceotherm?
Iceotherm is a small, hand-held, hyper-stimulating device that has been proven effective in temporarily reducing, or eliminating, pain to joints, head, neck and other areas where chronic pain is typically encountered.
Iceotherm works by applying both heat and cold simultaneously to the affected area creating maximum stimulation and overwhelming the nerves in the area to block out pain. In addition, a vibrator and 4 LED's (2 blue, 2 red) are engineered into in the small applicator head to add additional, point specific sensory stimulation. The combination of these competing stimuli distracts the brain from the sensation of pain, providing 3 to 4 hours or more of relief.
Canadian Engineer and successful inventor of medical devices, John Saringer, began to study the effects of heat and cold for the temporary treatment of pain, in the early 1990's. He observed that there were many devices available on the market designed to provide some kind of sensory stimulation that will distract a person from their pain, or will interrupt the pain pattern. Noting that both heat and cold treatment products have been proven to be very effective sensory stimulators, he observed that "contrast therapy", or the sequential application of heat and cold, was proven to be more effective than heat or cold alone. John Saringer's contribution to this field of investigation was the enhanced pain relief control that came from the "concurrent" application of heat and cold.
After developing over twenty prototypes John Saringer arrived at the optimum combination of heat (around the perimeter of the head of the device) and cold (on a small ceramic tile located at the centre of the head of the device). On May 13, 1997 John was awarded U.S. Patent # 5,628,769, Method And Devices For Producing Somatosensory Stimulation Using Temperature.
Clinical Research
Initial Clinical Results
After having his wife experience effective pain relief for arthritis of her hands Dr. Jack Hirsh set up a quasi-formal Phase I research study with forty volunteers from the staff at McMaster Hospital. Each of these volunteers experienced pain of some manner. The results showed that 70% of the participants experienced a positive benefit from the use of Iceotherm. This compares with a 40% efficacy rate of common drug treatment. A further review of the results led to the conclusion that Iceotherm worked best on localized and chronic pain (defined as two months of identified pain), and had little or no effect on diffused and acute pain.
Current Clinical Trials
After receiving approval from Health Canada a Phase II clinical research trial on Iceotherm commenced in the spring of 2008 at McMaster Hospital. Up to eighty patients are involved in this study with the results expected before the end of 2008. SLST has made the financial commitment to provide the Iceotherm devices for the Phase II trial.
Future Clinical Trials
A Phase III placebo-controlled study is planned for 2009. To generate the placebo device the cold ceramic tile at the centre of Iceotherm will be de-activated. It is believed that the cold sensation generated by the ceramic tile has the greatest effect on the relief of localized pain.
Conditions Treated
As mentioned the Iceotherm has been proven more successful in treating localized and chronic pain, as opposed to diffuse and acute pain. Specific ailments that would be aided by the use of Iceotherm include:
- Osteoarthritis of the hands and other joints
- Tennis elbow, shoulder and knee, golf elbow and other chronic tendonitis conditions
- chronic musculoskeletal pain
- Plantar Faciitis
- Neuropathic pain
It is of interest to note that the above-listed conditions where Iceotherm is most effective, are conditions where patients rarely seek treatment from their family doctor. They are conditions more commonly associated with chiropractors, physiotherapist and self-help treatments. While Iceotherm is not a cure, It does provide temporary pain relief and in many cases will eliminate, or reduce, drug dependencies.
Go to www.iceotherm.com