The present concept is a cooling system and method for cooling the spinal cord dura which in turn cools the spinal cord. This method involves exposing the spinal cord leaving the dura intact at the location of the spinal cord injury, and applying a cooling pad to the spinal cord dura at the point of the spinal cord injury in order to cool the dura which in turn cools the spinal cord. The pad is cooled to achieve a dura temperature of between 2 to 10 degrees centigrade for a period of ½ to 96 hours. The cooling pad is a saddle shaped cooling saddle that follows the exterior profile of the dura to maximize the heat transfer between the saddle and the dura. It is made of a light soft pliable material, a biomedical grade elastomer, which conforms to the outer contour of the dura when gently placed on the dura. The cooling saddle includes an inlet and outlet for communicating cooling liquid through the pad thereby cooling the pad and the dura in contact with the pad. There are channels for communicating cooling liquid through the saddle in a preselected path from the inlet to the outlet. The inlet tube and outlet tube are each connected to a support nozzle for vertically gently suspending the saddle by the inlet and outlet tubes over the dura. Preferably a dural temperature of between 5 and 7 degrees centigrade is maintained for a period of 1 to 8 hours.
