It seems like the best idea would be to warm them up as quickly as possible, but I’ve heard that’s not the right course of action. Why should you warm them up slowly? And what happens if they warm up too quickly? I’m from the Southeastern US, so I have no experience with extreme cold or frostbite, I’m merely curious
In: Biology
When your extremities are very cold, your body restricts the blood flow to them, but at the same time, the cold also slows their cell’s metabolism, almost to a stop. If you heat the area up too quickly, the cells wake up, but because they have no supply of blood, they die. Heating the frostbitten area slowly makes sure blood flow returns in time.
A similar thing happens with hypothermia. Your body restricts blood flow to the surface to maintain warmth in your core. If you heat someone up too fast, the blood travels through those surface areas and brings the cold back to your core where it can damage organs.
Because the amount of oxygen (blood flow) a cell needs is directly proportional to how warm it is. When you warm someone up by putting them in warm water or in front of a fire you warm them up from the outside in. Their body’s core temperature is still low so their blood vessels in their extremities will still be constricted even if you warm their hands up. Their hands are warm and need blood flow but their core is still cold and wants to conserve heat so it will still reduce blood flow to the hands which will result in more cell damage.
Frostbite or hypothermia? In hypothermia, or low body temperature, you rewarm slowly because a rapid change would put stress on the heart.
It’s not about you warming up too quickly. A very cold hand is also a numb hand, so you can’t tell how hot the water you’re putting on yourself actually is, so it would be very easy to burn yourself without realizing it until you’ve done serious damage.
Meanwhile it’s not really important to have the hottest water possible to warm you up quickly. Whether you’re trying to heat or cool something, moving water will get the job done quicker than standing water. It’s all about heat transfer. If you combine something hot with something cold, heat will flow from the hot into the cold until both items are the same temp. Moving water maximizes contact, which allows for much faster heat transfer.
I’ve been frost bitten before. Putting your hands under running water feels like getting hit repeatedly with hammers. Horrible pain.
Weird, now I’m wondering if I believe an urban legend. I was taught it was because frostbite is frozen tissue and ice crystals at a cellular level can cause havoc. So you thaw out the frostbite so it melts rather than having jagged crystals moving. Some cells rupture from water expansion while freezing and without the ability to move anything your body can’t repair or mitigate freezing damage.
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