We sell different kinds of cold therapy, the motorized cold therapy units like Breg & DonJoy. How is the SMI Wrap different?
Motorized cold machines are fantastic they do a great job and they are effective in relieving the pain and swelling. Right out of surgery when you're not moving you are sent home then what’s important to have a motorized product that's going to do a great job and those units are perfect for that. What is important after 3 weeks, is to have a product that's going to deliver the cold but doesn't restrict movement and that's what I would say is our biggest difference between the cooling machines because clinically we provide an equal benefit but we also allow movement whereas even if you just want to drive down the road you're sitting but it's portable cold therapy.
Even when you are driving to your physical therapy, the ice freeze bags are very effective because it allows for mobility. How about the times with sports you get a little muscle cramp and you wish you had that cooling machine right there. With SMI wraps, the gel packs can be kept in a frozen lunch bag and that way if you get that pain, put it on and you can even continue working out, playing football, golfing and even just simple tasks like walking the dog.
What is your position and what do you do for SMI?
And I am the vice president & national sales manager of SMI cold therapy, been with the company since 2009, and I eat, drink and sleep cold therapy, just like you.
Our founding is actually a really great story we were founded up in Pennsylvania in 2004.
Since it's been around for all types of therapy in the hospitals for many years and are founders build the product around all the objections that he would receive from nurses physicians postoperatively in terms of why can't we wanted to make a wrap and gel products that is effective but also simple for post-operative use but also can be effective for everyday bumps bruises and headache. In 2011 we built a brand new facility in Southwest Virginia Rocky Mount where were based out of today, and we are 100% built in America.
Features & benefits of SMI cold wrap
- Made in America. Packaged & shipped from Rocky Mount, VA.
- Mobility with compression
- All the ingredients coming from the USA
- Manufacturing is one thing, but shipping and handling adds major costs to foreign sourced products. We are American made and ships from NC.
- Pricing about even with leading name brand solutions like DuraKold & Breg
- 3+ hours of cold therapy. 4 Hour recharge. Non-toxic ingedients
- Anti-microbial barrier even when washed continuously.
- Medical-grade cold + compression
Insight on SMI wraps for post-operative procedures
We are very excited to partner with companies like yours to offer these to basically anyone that wants them, they are the same products that we sell directly to over 500 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers and physicians offices across the nation. From health system owned pharmacies this is really the only way that you can get our products coming through SupplyPT without going to a manufacturer especially the surgery patients, the quality of these products they are above and beyond, and we found they are extremely useful for post-operative recovery and mobility. The compression strap itself is 6 inches wide making it extremely useful for everyday mobility.
What are some of the main features this wrap has that sets it apart from it’s competitors?
We are very proud of the SMI wrap compression straps, it's a big part of the functionality of the product actually. It's important to have a strap that's not going to be uncomfortable to wear and a strap that is not going to cut off circulation when compression is added that is the ability of the cold gel to push into the affected area immediately to do its job. So if I lay this on your knee exactly as it came out of the freezer like a bag of ice or normal cold pack, that's pretty much all you're going to get. With our product once you put these straps around this acts as a driving force with a cold push through the entire area and does its job to be therapeutic. Stand up, jump around, go grocery shopping, etc. Now, for any of our wraps they're based around the concept of not impeding mobility while effectively driving the cold through and you get that compression that is not going to slip off. In the hospital and health systems they call it migrating you know is there any migration with it around because we don't want them to trip you got to have a good fabric that is going to be durable long-lasting and it's great when it's attaching this Velcro to itself.
Whats the importance of the gel + ice packs that makes this product so effective?
Cold therapy is extended over 2 hours. A patient sitting in bed might not be realizing that what they have is still doing its job. If the nurse goes and grabs that extra set the other set is only half Frozen so right from the get go it's not going to do this job. Is making sure that these little squares on the inside are frozen solid if they're not frozen solid it's not going to be anywhere near effective.
This is a long lasting but safe and effective cold therapy gel pack. When frozen it's going to provide 3 plus hours of cold and cold longevity from anywhere from three to three-and-a-half hours. I brought this frozen gel bag to show there's two components you have little mini gel packs on the inside with the liquid flowing around inside the gel. It's very important that these squares are frozen solid before using them you want to keep them in a freezer flat and ideally side-by-side I know some people don't have space so you can stack them but make sure it's at least 4 hours and when you take them out what should get is after this has been resting out for a bit the gel conforms to the area perfectly the ice packs remain frozen solid so when you initially put it on, it's going to push a blast of cold into the joint and rapidly lower the temperature and then the squares maintain that temperature for a long time. So it's a gradual warm-up. Over the entire cycle if you wore this for 20 minutes and then I passed it over there to someone else, they would not think it’s as cold as it needs to be, but the gel pack is designed to warm up gradually and release the cold over time, not all at once which is where you run the risk of numbing a site and freezing it too cold.
Tell us about the antimicrobial bandage liner?
We call this white part our antimicrobial bandage liner. No one likes it when you're wearing ice straps and the area gets wet, wet clothing doing whatever, this moisture wicking barrier is going to keep the area nice and dry throughout the duration of using it so you don't have to worry. On top of that from the very beginning of the manufacturing process are three different types of bactericides that act together. That’s obviously important in a hospital setting but also when a patient is at home. This can be washed or wiped with any type of disinfectant and those antimicrobial properties are still going to be affected if they call it bacteriostatic meaning it is not going to wash out the last forever but it's going to last for the duration of several months. And then it also has to function as a protective barrier so that you can add cold therapy to the affected area.