Our thanks to Jim Hill for this article. We hope it is the first of many more to come. As pre-hospital care providers operating within the urban EMS system, recognition of cold related injuries is often overlooked. Modern conveniences combined with shorter transfer times tend to shift our focus away from the precipitating factors that contribute to a patient entering a hypothermic condition. As an aid to understanding cold related disorders, it is important to review the mechanics of temperature balance.
Homeostasis is the system within our body that uses feed back to create a thermal balance.
Relying primarily on the hypothalamus , located deep within the anterior portion of the brain as well as other external sensors, heat production and loss is maintained. When your core temperature stabilizes, the chills subside. A by-product of your basal metabolic rate is heat production. In order to keep your body from melting down, there must be subsequent heat loss. This heat loss occurs in the following ways.