Last updated on November 29th, 2022 at 01:49 pm
Serious athletes push themselves to the physical limit, resulting in lactic acid build-up, soreness, and fatigue. And, for those athletes, there is overwhelming evidence compression boots can drastically reduce muscle soreness after intense exercise. In this post, we cover the proven compression boot benefits for elite athletes. Plus, we’ll cover a few of the more popular compression therapy tools.
For example, compression boots increase circulation, reduce lactic acid, and facilitate a quicker post-workout recovery.
What is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)?
Before we jump into how compression boots can be a very helpful tool for elite athletes, we need to first cover what these boots help treat, and what compression therapy actually is.
When the muscle is stressed more than it has been conditioned for, we get painfully sore.
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This soreness I refer to above is caused by increased swelling from muscular micro-tears that occur when strenuous physical activity increases the burden on our muscles.
This debilitating soreness is referred to as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). If you’ve ever pushed yourself to the physical limit, you’ve likely experienced the pain of DOMS.
What is Compression Therapy
Now we know what DOMS is, but how can compression boots help treat it?
Since compression boots draw upon compression therapy as their main technology, we need to look at what compression therapy is.
Compression therapy is the process of applying focused and controlled pressure to a muscle group to increase blood flow, remove toxins, and speed recovery.
This doesn’t always have to involve compression sleeves, socks, and boots. Massage therapy can also be an effective method of compression therapy.
Luckily, for those of us not fortunate enough to have a personal masseuse, compression garments are still effective. Below we provide more details on the benefits of using compression garments, specifically compression boots.
Benefits of Compression Boots
Compression garments like compression boots work. This is especially true when it comes to speeding recovery (source: New York Times). And while there are various brands of compression boots that all do (largely) the same thing, some might be more effective than others. Essentially though, a compression boot will provide consistent pressure to muscles to speed recovery.
Below we go through five benefits you might experience by using compression boots.
1. Less Pain from Muscle Soreness
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Compression boots have the ability to seriously impact pain from extreme physical exertion. In other words, you will be way less sore when using compression boots.
In one study, compression boots made statistically significant reductions to “skeletal muscular oxidative stress and proteolysis markers during recovery from heavy resistance.” (source: Peer Reviewed Journal). This translates to less muscle soreness, and the negative pains associated with it.
While there is no reason to suspect other compression boots would have differing results, it should be noted that the study referenced above used the Normatec Pulse 2.0 Recovery System (click to view on Amazon) in its experiments on muscle recovery. Other compression boots may not have similar results, or at the very least, it is more difficult to confirm their effectiveness.
2. Reduce stiffness and increase flexibility
A part of muscle soreness is often an impending stiffness that reduces mobility. This stiffness, if not addressed, can impact the quality of workouts and runs through the rest of the week.
Just imagine going on a long run this Saturday, and losing so much flexibility when becoming stiff, that you can’t take part in a quality workout again until Wednesday. May not sound like the end of the world, but if you are an elite athlete, four unplanned rest days can impact your entire plan.
Compression Boots actually work in stopping the onset of stiffness that results from strenuous workouts. According to one study, the effectiveness of the boots is statistically significant, as the compression boots prevent the loss of flexibility (source: Peer Reviewed Journal).
3. Increased Blood Circulation During Recovery
There isn’t a lot of evidence that compression garments increase blood flow during exercise. There is, however, evidence that compression boots provide increased movement of blood after exercise during the recovery stages.
In an article published in the New York Times, doctor Billy Sperlich at the University of Würzburg states that compression garments (boots included) help increase blood flow following exercise (source: New York Times). The benefits of increasing blood flow after a strenuous workout are many:
- Improved circulation improves recovery time
- Improved circulation may help flush toxins of muscles created during exercise (such as lactate)
- Improved circulation reduces inflammation
- Improved circulation reduces muscle aches
With the list above in mind, the ability of compression boots to increase blood circulation should not be downplayed. Blood flow and circulation aid in recovery, and compression boots are an effective way to achieve that circulation.
In a way, the very act of compression therapy is built upon encouraging the movement of blood. Whether acheiving that blood flow through a massage therapist or compression boot, the results are pretty clear: Compression therapy works in improving circulation.
4. Reduction in lactic acid build up and metabolic waste
Many people still believe lactate creates sore muscles. Evidence has shown, however, that DOMS is caused by micro-tears in the muscle and the resulted swelling. This doesn’t mean lactate is good for your muscles. It isn’t. It has a slew of negative impacts on your muscles (and your performance), and it may still contribute to muscle soreness even though not its main cause.
Lactic acid build-up fatigues the muscle pre-maturely, and for that reason alone it should make sense to try and flush lactate from our muscles post-workout. As compression boots improve blood flow and circulation following a workout, lactic acid is removed from the muscle faster. This reduces fatigue of the muscle and improves recovery.
5. Return to your next training at full strength
Above we provide a lot of science-based detail into the benefits one might experience using compression boots. While those benefits are very real, it is possible that the most important benefit of all is found in athletes being able to create a regimen, stick to that regimen, and do so at full strength more consistently. In other words, compression boots help elite athletes give it their all EVERY outing.
In training at elite levels, missing workouts because of soreness, cramping muscles, or general fatigue can be a MAJOR setback. With compression boots aiding the recovery process, you will essentially have an insurance policy against disruptions in your workout schedule.
In a world of competitive athletics where every workout matters, compression boots become an increasingly relied upon tool to get an edge.
Popular Compression Boots
There are a ton of compression boots on the market that can help provide the benefits outlined above. Below we provide a quick run-down on some of the more popular models that have gained support from elite athletes.
Additionally, we have a post dedicated specifically to the best compression recovery boots on the market. Check that post out if you want to learn more about those compression tools.
NormaTec Pulse 2.0 Leg Recovery System
The NormaTec Pulse 2.0 Leg Recovery System is likely the industry leader in compression boot recovery technology.
The NormaTec was also the boot used in this peer-reviewed study comparing passive recovery vs the use of this boot. The findings showed the boot was successful in speeding recovery. Check out more specs and current pricing on Amazon here: NormaTec Pulse 2.0.
DSMAREF Recovery Compression System
The DSMAREF Recovery Compression System is a slightly more budget option. It does also appear that this set-up provides compression capabilities in addition to the boots (arm compression).
Check out more specs and current pricing for this set on Amazon here: DSMAREF Recovery Compression System.
Rapid Reboot Boot & Hip Pack: Compression Boots
The Rapid Reboot Compression Boots also come with the added benefit of a hip compression pack. Adding hip compression to your recovery regimen can work well in conjunction with full leg compression.
Check out more specs and current pricing for this set on Amazon here: Rapid Reboot Compression Boots.
Compression Boots Work
Whether an elite trail runner, cross fit enthusiast, or weight lifter compression boots work. There are countless studies showing the benefits from using them as a part of your recovery routine. If reducing muscle stiffness, soreness, and fatigue is a goal of yours, compression boots are without a doubt effective.
While a costly recovery option, elite athletes may benefit greatly from the use of boot based compression therapy.
Image Credit: Susanna Bolle | (source) | Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)