Compression Therapy

Posted by David Coleman on

These days athletes and civilians are always looking for ways to become more efficient and better use of time. A common barrier to this is the time it takes to recover from exercise. There is a balance to be found with exercise; undertraining and over training, recovery times – too long or too short. This can take the form of physiological adaptations/recovery or neural recovery in both the CNS, Central Nervous System, and the PNS, peripheral nervous system.

To be honest the list of “life” areas that will require optimal balance is too long to list but it shouldn’t be over looked.

 

A graph to show the relationship between performance in training intensity and recovery requirement times.

 

You may have seen athletes wearing inflatable trousers on social media. There are a wide range of functions and features to some of these. Some will provide hot and cold treatment, replicating a hydrotherapy session. Others provide specific targeted pressure to limbs.

 

This type of home treatment is called Compression therapy. Compression therapy is a form of wound care that aims to gently apply pressure to the ankles and legs by wearing specifically designed stockings. Compression therapy uses controlled pressure within the stockings/trousers to increase blood flow in your legs and improve blood flow to the heart, similar to a blood pressure monitor. At the same time, it supports your veins by improving venous return, the lymphatic system by aiding the removal of waste products and even reducing inflammation incurred from training. Ultimately reducing the recovery time and allowing us to maintain a higher level of performance and wellbeing day to day. Globus developed the PressCare G-SPORT3 specifically for athletes in order to accelerate muscular recovery from post-training/competition fatigue/long duration travel.The unit itself is made so that it is light and transportable, equipped with a power bank that enables treatments immediately after competition, directly on the courtside/pitch side.

During my training for the 2020-2021 Bobsleigh season Globus were kind enough to provide me with one of there PressCare G-SPORT3 PRESSOTHERAPY machines. The device has 2 outputs, one for each leg and 3 separate inflation programs, Mode A/B/C.

MODE A: the program sequence consists in the inflation and deflation of boot sectors one by one to execute an activating massage, ideal before the competition or training.

MODE B: the program sequence consists in the inflation and deflation of two chambers at a time to avoid fluid reflux downwards and make the treatment effective and very comfortable.

MODE C: the program sequence consists in the sequential inflation of all the chambers and their simultaneous deflation, ideal for a deeper massage.

Device for pneumatic compression dedicated to athletes, On first use of the equipment, I didn’t really know what to expect from the treatment. I quickly found out that the Pressure ranges from 0-180mmHg ±10% and is fully adjustable. The timer, pre-set to 30minutes, can also be adjusted to up to 99 minutes.

Effectively it works like a blood pressure monitor, it takes a while to inflate and then will maintain or release the pressure according to the program. When changing the pressure on the unit it takes a while for the trousers to reach that level so don’t be in any hurry to go to the highest setting. This won’t always be the optimal pressure recovery setting for you.

Personally I think that the globus unit is a fantastic piece of equipment and certainly supported my training and performances. Living up to the claims of improved recovery times after travel and training while maintaining peak performances.

 

Check out the other bits of kit they have on https://www.globuscorporation.com

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