Understand the science behind compression therapy and its immense benefits to heal your body.
Do you ever wonder how professional athletes seem to recover so quickly from strenuous physical events and consistently perform at the top of their game?
The answer is simple; they use compression therapy to unlock their body's full
potential and speed up recovery.
Physical therapists and trainers who help athletes, bodybuilders, and sportspeople worldwide have long relied upon compression therapy as their go-to method to speed up muscle recovery and improve performance. You would be surprised also to learn that doctors have been recommending compression therapy to manage venous insufficiency, swelling, and issues caused by blood clots for decades.
It is not just about athletes or patients suffering from venous insufficiency. Due to stress, injury, age, or a high level of physical activities, we all may experience stiffness in our muscles, chronic pain, inflammation, limited mobility, or other health issues that interfere with our daily lives. Compression therapy can help us immensely by improving the natural circulation process of our body.
Compression therapy has been shown to improve the overall quality of life with better mobility and pain relief. Results show that almost 50% of patients experiencing chronic swelling from standing, a common problem, heal with compression therapy alone within six months. Some of the other benefits that accompany these results of compression therapy include improvement of lymphatic drainage, reduction of venous pressure, improvement of blood flow velocity, and reduction of reflux in deep veins.
The best part? Compression therapy has evolved and come a long way from using compression socks, wraps, sleeves, or bandages. New research has proven these old methods inefficient as a high level of accuracy and skill is required in implementation.
With the advent of technology, we can now experience the full benefits of compression therapy with excellent restorative massage therapy devices. NormaTec is one such device that enables you to recover and is one of the most accurate and practical solutions that top athletes swear by.
For example, wearing a knee sleeve won't produce the same results as NormaTec's patented dynamic pulsating method. The compression device is engineered around our body's hemodynamics to prevent backflow of fluid within your limbs, whereas the old techniques like sleeves result in backflow once the compression fabric is taken off.
New compression therapy devices like NormaTec, use air compression technology with an inflatable garment to mimic natural muscle movements and contractions in our body, which helps the muscle to warm up quickly, recover faster due to increased blood flow, and overall help you feel revived. Such accurate intermittent pressure peaks exert a "massaging effect" on the body, which helps you to relax further.
Compression therapy is well researched and has great benefits in providing relief and preventing circulatory problems.
Some more benefits include:
• Healing inflammation and swelling after physically demanding activities
• Management of appearance of varicose veins in pregnancy and old age
• Chronic pain relief and management in limbs
• Quicker recovery and better athletic performance
• Increased mobility and reducing stiffness in muscles
• Healing and preventing leg ulcers which are experienced in old age
Here is what two of our clients had to say about compression therapy and how it has helped them:
"So, it’s been a week since the compression session and I still notice the positive effects. Beforehand, my legs had a creaky, old man feeling and that’s still gone. But what I also noticed after the session-and still do- is how tight my legs were. It feels as if my entire legs had cupping done ." - Jim O.
"The compression therapy helps to increase the blood flow and decrease my muscular tension in my legs. Since starting a twice a week compression therapy over the past 4 weeks I've noticed that it has a huge impact on reducing the chronic pain level in my legs which allows me more mobility in my daily activities. I highly recommend those experiencing any tension or pain in their legs to give compression therapy a few sessions to see if it'll help you too!" - Cameron N.
How does it work?
Your circulatory system delivers oxygen and nutrients to the muscles within your body. Simultaneously, this complex circuit removes metabolic wastes such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid, effectively flushing your system of these wastes.
The science behind compression therapy is that increasing blood flow to specific parts of the body helps increase the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to those areas. With better oxygenation, the muscle can speed up recovery, relieve pain, and improve athletic performance. This increased blood flow also removes lactic acid from the muscles. Compression therapy can be synonymous with active recovery.
Suppose you are looking to avail the benefits of compression therapy. In that case, you should make sure that you are using a compression therapy device that delivers the correct amount of pressure according to your health issues under the supervision of an expert. Also, the prescribed compression therapy should be used consistently to see results. The compression device is typically used for about 30 minutes within a session.
Like any other therapeutic procedure, compression therapy needs expert guidance and skill. We at Proactive Massage and Bodywork use scientifically-backed Normatec devices to help you become your healthiest version. Our expert therapists will first understand your issues in-depth and then design a therapy plan for you.
Discover more about our compression therapy sessions here.
Take the first step in reclaiming your health with us; schedule your appointment today!
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