Why are cold hands stiff? Maybe the ligaments actully stiffen? Or the tendons do not slide easily in their sheathes? Or maybe it's in the nerves?
And, does cold cause irreversible damage? If one iced his hands every day for a year, would it cause long-term irreversible damage? To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html