by Devon McNeely
What is an Enswell?
An enswell is a small metal tool used to apply pressure to an injury to reduce swelling. It is often kept on ice and used by a fighter’s second, cornerman, or cutman to apply direct pressure to bruising or swelling especially around the eyes.
An enswell can also be called an end-swell, endswell, stop-swell, no-swell, or an eye iron. It works to alleviate pressure and stop minor bleeding by using the cold of the steel to slightly shrink the capillaries and reduce the blood flow in the area. It is important that only minor pressure is used as excessive pressure can further damage the area.
Key Points
- Reducing swelling around the eyes of a fighter can keep them open and avoid the major disadvantage of limited vision.
- The temperature is the key to reducing swelling. The enswell is kept in ice water and applied directly to the area for the best results. Some can be filled with ice to stay cold longer.
- It is important that the proper pressure is used. One mistake is to press too hard and iron the swelling. This can further damage the already bruised area and can increase bleeding by bursting the capillaries.
Using an Enswell
When a fighter is hurt in a match they only have a short break between rounds to deal with it before they are back with their opponent. During this time the cutman must assess the damage and do what he can to alleviate anything that may cause the physician to end the fight. Eye injuries are serious and could easily lead to a medical stoppage. Even if the match continues, swelling or bleeding around the eyes can limit the fighter’s vision which is a severe disadvantage. For these reasons cuts and swelling around the eyes are one of the cutman’s major focuses.
Tip 1 – Keep it Cold
Like using an icepack on a sprained ankle, the cold will reduce swelling. It’s important to keep the tool as cold as possible so it can do its job in the short time available between rounds. The best way to do this is to keep it in a bucket of ice wateruntil needed. adding salt to the ice water can keep it even colder. There are also some enswell that can have ice inside them, for best results its important to not let that ice melt.
Tip 2 – Add Vaseline
Per tip 1 it is important to keep the enswell on ice. However if it is too cold the metal can stick to the skin. Simply adding a thin layer of vaseline to the contact surface is an easy way to prevent it from sticking.
Tip 3 – Press Don’t Rub
Applying pressure to bleeding or swelling gets the icy temperature into area it is needed in order to get the capillaries to shrink. Proper pressure is important as too much can further damage the area. Worse yet would be rubbing the tool into the swelling or trying to push it to another area which will both cause more damage and limit the effectiveness of the cold.
Tip 4 – Sanitize
While sanitation is less of an issue with brusing and swelling, enswells are also uses to help with bleeding. Improper cleaning and maintaining of the tool can lead to various infections which will need to be delt with after the fight and extend post fight recovery times.