Compression Therapy: The Magic Boots

You may have seen them on some of your favourite sports stars or athletes and wondered what are those big boots they are wearing on their legs and what do they do?

Pneumatic Compression Boots use intermittent compression to squeeze the legs to increase blood flow and get rid of metabolic waste products faster thus enhancing recovery.

You've probably used, or seen someone use, compression socks before particularly on aeroplanes. These also squeeze the legs, from the feet upwards, to improve blood flow and reduce swelling and discomfort. They are generally tighter at the bottom and get looser as they go up your legs. With the compression boots, they use the air to intermittently inflate and deflate in their four chambers all the way up to your thighs so your whole leg gets worked.

Imagine your legs are the tube and the waste products are the toothpaste, the boots work to squeeze the metabolic waste from the bottom all the way up your leg.

While the main benefits of Compression Therapy is improved blood flow and circulation, the compression boots also work to decrease swelling. So after a long run or a heavy gym session, when your legs are tired, heavy and full of those little micro tears, some compression therapy can shorten the amount of rest needed by preventing swelling from occurring in those areas.

This can also help greatly in people with injuries also as the compression boots can help get rid of any build-up of excess fluid around the injured area, reducing swelling and therefore increasing the range of motion at the site of the injury.

Outside of sports, there are many benefits of the use of compression therapy for certain ailments. According to cryozone health, 'Intermittent pneumatic compression is now used to reduce limb oedema and decrease the risk of deep vein thrombosis. By using the recovery boots, an external pressure gradient is introduced to the leg, pushing the lymph, blood and other fluids out of the limb. After a few moments, the pressure is released, enabling blood to flow back in. This increases circulation at all levels of the venous system, including deep veins, saphenous veins, superficial veins and perforator veins, effectively removing metabolic waste from the tissues and therefore reducing the swelling.'

Compression Therapy can also help reduce soft swelling in Osteoarthritis patients when the joints become inflamed and produce excess fluid. This can in turn increase the range of motion in the joints for those suffering from this disease and lead to a general better quality of life.

Don't just take our word for it, come in to Recovery One and try out our Air Relax Compression Boots, Shorts (Which work the upper legs and lower back area) or Arm Sleeve (Working the whole arm) and enhance your recovery and general quality of movement.