trailrunningSoul.com » Health & Nutrition

Moji Cold Compression Wraps

Devon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:20:53 +0000

I’m introducing today a new colaborator of TRS. I’m sure many of you already know Devon Crosby-Helms‘ ultrarunning background, so I’ll just point out a couple of her winner performances of this past year: the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run and the JFK 50. She took the job of reviewing a couple of products provided by Moji, the icing products company. Keep reading her notes to learn from these products. Oh, and don’t miss Devon on her ultrarunning blog and fast foodie website!

Aches, pains, injuries. They are a part of running and training, for most. For the most part, knock on wood, I have not had any major injuries in my running career. Part of the reason that I think that is the case is because I get consistent bodywork and because I take ice baths. Lots and lots of ice baths. I have learned to love plunging myself into a freezing body after a hard workout or race and stay warm with the thought of all the benefit I am getting from the loathed activity. A lot of people cannot stand the thought of an ice bath or simply choose to not utilize the option. I can remember back to my college days when after practice (basketball) the trainers would give me the option to soak in the cold tub or have ice bags plastic wrapped around my lower back and knees (at the same time), I would 95% of the time take the latter option. I would waddle off all wrapped up and find a comfy spot on the dorm room floor to do my icing. The plastic bags/plastic wrap provided a combination of cold and compression that really addressed the inflammation in my knees and back and helped keep me playing and training. I always thought, as the bags leaked or the plastic wrapped folded up on itself as I tried to walk, “there has to be a better way!” and alas, there is finally!

Moji, started in 2007, makes cold compression technology which seeks to provide the healing combination of cold and compression that the ice bags and plastic wrap of former years provided. When it comes to aches, pains and injuries, icing and compression are half of the best healing combination (remember R.I.C.E.?). Though I am not currently suffering from any injuries that require multiple icings per day, I was still keen to try out Moji Back and Moji Knee. The way I thought about it was: mobile ice bath, score!!! I would much rather get my ice on while sitting on a couch than shivering in my bath tub.

Here’s what Moji says about its product:

Moji products are designed to be more effective, easy to use, and comfortable than common icing practices through its patent-pending two-piece construction, which incorporates a Moji Cold Cell and Moji Compression Wrap. Every Moji Cold Cell is uniquely designed for each Moji product, beginning with Moji Knee and Moji Back, and will continue as we expand our product line with Moji Shoulder and Universal Leg in the Spring of 2010.

In my opinion Moji is working towards developing a great line of products. The two piece construction works really well. The Moji Compression Wrap really is designed to provide superior compression. The back compression wrap fits snug and secure, but comfortably. I can walk around with the wrap on and not be irritated. The Moji Knee wrap is definitely tight and provides excellent compression. It was a bit confusing the first time I put it on and I actually needed to have someone help me sort out where each stretching tab attached and secure it. But once it was on, it provided excellent compression without restriction. The Moji Compression Wraps alone get my thumbs up.

The Moji Cold Cells are really high tech looking. You are suppose to keep them in a plastic zippered case in the freezer to protect the technology. The cells are designed to be soft and pliable against the skin, yet provide acceptable icing. When you take one of the cells out of the freezer, the first thing you notice is that despite being quite cold, the cells are still soft and flexible. One of my favorite features thus far is that even as the cells warm up from contact with the body they do not become damp. I have worn a cell until it was practically body temperature and not gotten a single bit of moisture on my skin. The cells velcro easily into the compression wraps and stay in place.

The combination of cold cells and compression technology in the Moji products, as I said, is a huge part of the battle against aches, pains and injuries. I really think Moji is on to something, but I also think that there is still work to be done. While the cold cells provide acceptable icing, they felt far less cold than a bag of ice would. I found that I had to freeze the cells for a very very long time (weeks) in order to provide a truly cold feel upon application, especially with the Moji Knee. I felt in the Moji knee that the compression was superior and the icing left something to be desired. And because it provides less cold than a bag of ice or peas would, it makes the higher price point a bit more difficult to swallow: $89 for the Moji Knee and $129 for the Moji Back. If I am going to pay that much money for cold compression technology than it should far and away provide more superior cold and compression than a bag of ice and ace bandage, but currently it doesn’t. And because the products only work on specific parts of the body (Knee only, Back only) it makes each product less flexible than a bag of ice.

I liked the Moji products. I look forward to seeing their Universal Leg wrap come on the market. Am I to the point where I will put it on my “must have” list, no, not yet. If the price point is a non-issue for you or the negatives of traditional icing bother you (wet, leaks, lack of even compression etc), Moji is definitely a worthwhile investment. While I won’t be giving up my ice baths anytime soon, my Moji products will continue to be utilized for my flexbile cold compression needs.

More information about Moji can be found at http://www.gomoji.com.

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

A post abouticing systems, injuries, Moji

Video – Injury Prevention

trailrunningSoul.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:30:56 +0000

In this three part series on injury free running, Danny Abshire and Ian Adamson of Newton Running discuss injury free running techniques such as the 10% rule, periodization, and recovery time; biomachanics of running (do you pronate or supranate?); and natural running form.

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

A post aboutbiomechanics of running, Newton Running, running form, Skills & Techniques

Overhydration and Heat Related Illness

trailrunningSoul.com — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:50:39 +0000

This past Saturday took place the Namibia 24hr Ultramarathon. Held in the northern Namib Desert, this is a 126Km race through the oldest desert in the world and the largest and most remote National Park in Africa. This year’s race conditions were hardest than ever, with temperatures that reached 107F and forced nany runners to pull out mainly due to heat exhaustion and heatstroke. And that’s what I wanted to note on this post. The winner of the race was Darren Roberts who finished in 20:28. In his team blog, Team Men’s Fitness, he pointed out a few weeks ago two articles by Amy Hughes. Hughes is part of the medical staff of Across The Divide Expeditions, the organization behind the Namibia Ultra, and she wrote two fact-sheets on reducing the risk of medical problems from endurance racing. Check out these two interesting articles by clicking the images below.

Part I - Overhydration

Part II - Heat Related Illness

Rating: 9.0/10 (2 votes cast)

A post aboutheat and running, hydration, Namibia 24 hour Ultra Marathon

Peanut Butter Recall Expanded

trailrunningSoul.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:14:36 +0000

A USA-only related news: the list of peanut butter product recalled continues to grow. Hundreds have already been pulled and among these many snack bar products. Readers may already know that among the products recalled are several of Clif’s energy bars. Check out the information page at Clif’s website. Other snack bar products you may have at home are listed at the FDA’s website. PowerBar is not impacted by this recall.

The problem causing this recall is a Salmonella outbreak which is affecting not jars of peanut butter but rather foods that contain peanut butter such as bars, crackers, cookies, candy, cereal, and ice cream. Eight deaths and 501 illnesses in 43 states are now thought to be linked to the salmonella outbreak.

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

A post abouthealth

Does a Cold Affect your Ability to Exercise?

trailrunningSoul.com — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:08:58 +0000

· Pic by Kwiatkowski for The NYT·

Good timing for me on this new article by Gina Kolata on the NYT. Spain greeted my comeback with a nice long cold that is making me appear on all those Christmas social engagements with a runny nose and sneezing. So it was nice to see that someone has already studied if it’s advisable to keep working out while having a bad cold. The article talks about a study done by Leonard Kaminsky, an exercise physiologist at Ball State University, when a trainer at the university, Thomas Weidner, wondered what he should tell athletes when they got colds.

So researchers recruited men and women ages 18 to 29 and of varying levels of fitness, infected them with a rhinovirus – responsible for about a third of all colds- and assessed their lung functions and exercise capacity while running on treadmills at moderate and intense levels. The results were that the cold had no effect on either of the functions tested, compared to the results of 10 volunteers that served as controls.

The second test was to clarify if a cold affects athlete’s recovery time. Two groups of volunteers were created, one that that ran on treadmills for 40 minutes every other day at moderate levels of 70 percent of their maximum heart rates and one that just rested. Again, the investigators found no difference between the two groups.

So, keeping in mind that this is only true for situations where the cold doesn’t produce fever or more serious symptoms, don’t let a simple cold keep you from working out!

Read the complete article at www.nytimes.com

Written by Gina Kolata

Rating: 1.0/10 (1 vote cast)

A post aboutTraining

Energy Gels Comparative Test

trailrunningSoul.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:50:11 +0000

Very helpful post on energy gels written by Julien at life-is-an-ultramarathon.org. He covered most of the gels he could find in UK shops or on-line and created several comparison tables together with comments on nutrition facts and other attributes, like weight, taste and price. The comparison is UK focused (some popular products in the US like GU or Clif Shots are missing) and so some of the products covered are PowerGel, High5 or SiS GO.

Check out the comparative at www.life-is-an-ultramarathon.org

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

A post aboutgel, nutrition

Ultra Running and Long Term Damage

trailrunningSoul.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:49:56 +0000

· Photo by akunamatata ·

I have not been following the ultra running world for too long (although the ultra/trail bug bit me a while ago) but a question/concern I have often read about (though usually asked by people outside the ultra world) is if running ultra distances (i.e. more than 26.2 miles) could cause permanent damage to your body, beyond one-off the injuries or pain after a particular tough race or training. Coach Dean Herbert posted about this on www.running-advice.com. Although there are no links to any of his sources, he points out a few studies on this subject. As he also mentions, there doesn’t seem to be much research done on this field and so conclusions can’t be generalized. All in all, he concludes “you will not be causing permanent damage to your body by running ultramarathons”, although he advises to listen to your body and take reasonable precautions to stay out of trouble.

I haven’t found myself much literature or studies on the subject so if any of the ultra runners out there has more information and wants to share it, it will be much appreciated!

Rating: 5.5/10 (2 votes cast)

A post abouthealth

Should Ultrarunners Take Drugs?

trailrunningSoul.com — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:18:27 +0000

Interesting conversation going on at Club fat ass’ website. With drug tests all over the place in the Olympics and many top competitions but not in ultra running, Ean Jackson makes himself this question: how do ultra runners self-regulate?

More at clubfatass.com

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

A post abouthealth

Heat and Running

trailrunningSoul.com — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:28:05 +0000

· Photo by Monceau ·

A couple of quick links to articles on how to safely run outdoors and how to keep your performance high when the sun hits hard:

Heat Injuries: what causes heat injuries and how to prevent and treat them
To Beat the Heat, Learn to Sweat It Out: A New York Times fitness writer, Gina Kolata, answers the questions: how long does it take to acclimate to the heat and humidity? How much does your performance time and why? Does it help to douse your head with water?

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

A post aboutheat and running, Training

The Whole-Foods Approach in Endurance Running

trailrunningSoul.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:18:26 +0000

A short article on how endurance athletes consume natural-healthy food ““ instead of nutrition sports products ““ and how that can help on your PR. The writing quotes Dean Karnazes and his diet habits and results and also Suzanne Girard Eberle, author of the book Endurance Sports Nutrition, including a short list of products recommended for everyday athletes.

trailrunningSoul.com » Health & Nutrition

Moji Cold Compression Wraps

Related posts

Video – Injury Prevention

Related posts

Overhydration and Heat Related Illness

Related posts

Peanut Butter Recall Expanded

Related posts

Does a Cold Affect your Ability to Exercise?

Related posts

Energy Gels Comparative Test

Related posts

Ultra Running and Long Term Damage

Related posts

Should Ultrarunners Take Drugs?

Related posts

Heat and Running

Related posts

The Whole-Foods Approach in Endurance Running

Related posts