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Each year, many people experience cold-weather-related injuries.
Exposure to the cold can lead to a variety of problems.
While the cold makes tasks more difficult, it does not make them impossible. The key to overcoming the cold and successfully completing the mission lies within an understanding of cold-weather injuries and how to prevent them.
Officials at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center offer the following descriptions of the most common cold-weather injuries and information on how to prevent them.
• Chilblains — Chilblains are a nonfreezing cold injury resulting from repeated, prolonged skin exposure to cold and wet (high humidity) temperatures above freezing. Exposed skin becomes red, tender, and hot to the touch and is usually itchy. These symptoms can worsen to an aching, prickly (pins and needles) sensation and then numbness.
Chilblains can develop in exposed skin in only a few hours. The most commonly affected areas are the ears, nose, fingers, and toes.
• Immersion foot/trench foot — Immersion foot/trench foot is a nonfreezing injury that results from prolonged exposure to wet conditions between 32 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (F) or inactivity with damp socks and boots.
Immersing feet in cold water, not changing socks frequently, not maintaining proper hygiene, and allowing sweat to accumulate inside boots or gloves will soften the skin, causing tissue loss and often infection. Symptoms in affected areas include cold, swollen, discolored, and waxy flesh accompanied by tingling sensations, numbness and pain. In extreme cases, the flesh dies, and amputation may be necessary.
• Frostnip — Frostnip is the freezing of the top layers of skin tissue and is considered the first degree of frostbite. Frostnip usually results from short-duration exposure to cold air or contact with a cold object such as metal. Exposed skin such as the cheeks, ears, fingers, and wrists are more likely to develop frostnip.
The top layer of frozen skin becomes white and waxy and feels hard and rubbery while the deeper tissue is still soft. Affected areas feel numb and may become swollen but do not blister. Frozen skin thaws quickly, becoming red and painful with eventual peeling. Complete healing usually occurs within 10 days, and frostnip is normally reversible.
• Frostbite — Frostbite is the actual freezing of skin tissue. It can extend through all layers of the skin and freeze muscle and bone. Frozen skin may turn red and then gray-blue with blisters. In the worst cases, the skin dies and turns blue-black. At this stage, amputation is often required. Deep frozen skin feels wooden to the touch with zero mobility of the affected body part. Instantaneous frostbite can occur when skin comes in contact with super-cooled liquids, including petroleum, oils and lubricants, fuel, antifreeze, and alcohol — all of which remain liquid at temperatures as low as minus 40 F.
• Hypothermia — Hypothermia is a potentially life-threatening condition. It is defined as a general cooling of the body’s core temperature below 95 F (normal body temperature is 98.6 F). Hypothermia sets in when body heat loss exceeds the body’s heat production due to prolonged cold exposure.
Although hypothermia is usually associated with cold climates, it can occur at temperatures well above freezing, especially when a person is exposed to wet conditions over an extended period of time.
Signs and symptoms of hypothermia change as body temperature falls. Mental functions typically decline first, marked with impaired decision-making ability, slurred speech, disorientation, incoherence, irrationality and possible unconsciousness.
Muscle functions deteriorate with shivering and loss of fine motor ability (i.e., unable to complete tasks with hands), progressing to stumbling, clumsiness, and falling. In severe cases, shivering ceases and the victim exhibits stiffness and an inability to move.
Pulse and respiration rates can decrease, progressing to unconsciousness, irregular heartbeat and death.
Unfortunately, early signs and symptoms of hypothermia can be difficult to recognize and may go undetected. Victims may deny they are in trouble, so believe the symptoms, not the victim.
• Dehydration — Dehydration is a lack of water in the body. Most people associate dehydration with hot weather, but it is very easy to become dehydrated in cold weather. Soldiers can fall victim to dehydration when they fail to drink enough liquid and underestimate fluid loss from sweating.
Proper hydration is especially important in cold-weather because dehydration adversely affects the body’s resistance to cold injury, increasing the chance of cold weather injuries. Remember that proper hydration is essential to supplying the fuel and energy necessary for heat production.
Understanding the factors contributing to cold weather injuries provides a better understanding of the best methods to combat the cold. Environmental factors that can contribute to cold weather injuries include temperature, wind, rain, immersion and altitude; workload; duration of cold/wet exposure; and individual risk factors such as physical fitness, fatigue, health, prior history of cold injury, use of medications, alcohol, nicotine, and poor nutrition.
Cold-weather injuries are preventable, so people should be prepared to kill the chill. Remember, battling the cold is like battling any other enemy — mission success happens only through proper planning and training. Don’t get left out in the cold this winter.
More information on cold-weather safety and many other winter-safety topics is available on the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center’s autumn/winter seasonal safety campaign website at
https://safety.army.mil/MEDIA/SeasonalSafetyCampaigns/AutumnWinter2016-17.aspx.
(Article prepared by the Army Combat Readiness Center.)
| Date Taken: | 12.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.12.2018 14:45 |
| Story ID: | 303245 |
| Location: | FORT RUCKER, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 136 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Kill the chill: Understanding cold-weather injuries, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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