Trench foot
Trench foot can be prevented by keeping the feet clean, warm, and dry. It was also discovered in World War I that a key preventive measure was regular foot inspections; soldiers would be paired and each made responsible for the feet of the other, and they would generally apply whale oil to prevent trench foot. If left to their own devices, soldiers might neglect to take off their own boots and socks to dry their feet each day, but if it were the responsibility of another, this became less likely. Later on in the war, instances of trench foot began to decrease, probably as a result of the introduction of the aforementioned measures; of wooden duckboards to cover the muddy, wet, cold ground of the trenches; and of the increased practice of troop rotation, which kept soldiers from prolonged time at the front.
Treatment of equine lameness
“Firing”, or thermal injury, includes thermocautery and cold firing. In both cases, firing is performed after the initial inflammation associated with the injury has subsided. The horse is sedated, and the area is clipped and blocked with a local anesthetic. The most common form of firing is “pin firing”, which uses a specialized machine with a hot tip to penetrate through the skin and into the tendon or periosteum. Multiple applications are applied in rows over the site of injury. As expected, horses require analgesia following this procedure. Uses for pin firing include tendonitis, suspensory desmitis, sesamoiditis, splints, curbs, and other soft-tissue injuries. Cold firing is a method similar to pin firing, but uses liquid nitrogen to produce its effects. It is often used to treat lameness associated with the bone, such as sore shins or splints, and usually only after other treatments have failed. Firing forces rest of an injury, and while some argue this is the true reason it leads to any improvement of lameness, others contest that undeniable success in its use has been seen. Pin firing is not taught in veterinary schools in present day.