Best recovery massage boots for triathletes - 220 Triathlon

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What are recovery boots and are they worth the investment to boost your triathlon recovery? We find out...



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By Kate Milsom

Published: July 31, 2022 at 10:35 pm


If you’re not a fan of massage guns and find foam rolling a chore, a pair of recovery compression boots could be the perfect investment to help you optimise your triathlon recovery and performance.

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A good pair of recovery boots will offer graduated compression to increase blood flow and oxygen to sore muscles.

What are recovery boots? ​

The term recovery boots is used to describe a pair of long, trouser-like sleeves that you zip your legs into and plug into an accompanying device, which will then pump air in and out of chambers in the boots to create a compressive effect to the muscles.

Graduated compression is said to boost blood flow towards the heart and increase the flow of Oxygen and nutrients to sore muscles, as well as speed up the process of getting rid of toxins in the muscles like lactic acid.

Recovery boots are another tool to add to your recovery arsenal to help prevent injury and speed up recovery post-session.

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Fit King Leg and Foot Massager​

Credit: Amazon

This pair of compression recovery boots attaches around the feet, calves and the thighs with adjustable Velcro straps and two size extensions that should fit a wide range of sizes.

The hand-held control device attaches to both boots via tubes that pump air into three compartments, aiming to create compression to the muscles.

These boots are designed with three modes: sequence, circulation and whole mode, with three air intensity compression choices of low, medium and high.

Fit King says that these massage boots are designed ‘to relieve fatigue and pain, improve circulation’.

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Veyfun Leg Massager with Heat​

Credit: Amazon

• £45.99 £34.99

This leg massager from Vey Fun has a wrap construction and is made to cover the feet and calves. It has three compression strength levels – weak, medium, high – and attaches to a hand-held controller device via two air hoses that feet into the boots.

Unlike the other boots in this round-up, this pick has an added heat element within the wraps. You can choose from two heat levels: low at 37°C and high at 50°C. Due to the heating element, these boots have an auto-cut off function after 10mins of use.

The re-chargeable Vey Fun boots have two different programme modes: sequential and holistic, depending on your usage aim.

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Invospa Leg Massager​

Credit: Amazon

These recovery boots from Invospa attach around the feet, calves and thighs. It has three modes and four intensity levels to help find the perfect compression level for your sore muscles.

The leg wrap construction comes with extensions and is designed to be fully adjustable. The cyclical compression is controlled via a hand-held device and it can all be packed away in a handy carry bag.

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Recovery boot 2022 reviews ​

RecovaPro Air​

Credit: Recovapro

• £899.99 £699.99

These recovery boots from Recovapro are made to provide ‘fully customisable pneumatic compression’ that aims to flush out toxins including lactic acid from the body by increasing blood flow.

The Recovapro is an FDA Type II Medical device, designed to relieve muscle fatigue including DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and inflammation by increasing circulation and lymphatic drainage.

The boots are simple and easy to slide on, with a full-length zip along the top and two hoses coming out of each leg that attach to a weighty yet portable control device. They also come in three sizes, so should fit a large range of people.

The four, overlapping chamber design offers effective graduated compression which can be adjusted to how strong you need the compression. You can use the device in a freestyle mode that simply compresses and releases based on the pressure range chosen (30-150mmHg), or choose from six pre-set programmes (warm-up, recovery, flow, squeeze, release, and wave).

The boots are simple to use, re-chargeable with a claimed 300min battery life, and come with a handy duffel bag to pack away after use and cut down on bulk.

Verdict: Offers graduated compression with a range of pre-set modes

Score: 80%

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Therabody Recovery Air Pro ​

The Therabody RecoveryAir Pro recovery boots are made up of four chambers, which work by using gradient, pneumatic compression on the legs.

This is designed to increase circulation as well as lymphatic drainage, in order to decrease muscle fatigue by reducing DOMS and inflammation from hard sessions.

The boots fit like a glove and also pack up small into the provided bag, we also like the easy to use control system that offers a wealth of features and massage functions.

For more information, read our full review of the Therabody Recovery Air Pro

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Hyperice Normatec 2.0​

The Normatec 2.0 Legs use ‘dynamic air compression’ in order to help reduce muscle soreness and lower blood lactate levels.

The patented pulse massage pattern has three functions: pulse, distal release and a gradient system, which means that the compression works its way up the leg gradually in a hold and release pattern to mimic the natural mechanism of the muscles pumping blood towards the heart.

This aims to help get rid of waste products and increase the oxygen flow to the recovering muscles and extremities. Set-up proved easy enough.

Just zip yourself into the boots and connect the control unit to the hose attachment, which then slots into the hose socket on both legs.

The boots have a rechargeable 1.5kg control unit, which means they’re relatively portable and can be used wirelessly. Hyperice’s claimed two-hour battery life is pretty accurate; we found it translated to about five episodes of Friends before needing extra juice!

Each leg is made up of five overlapping chambers that fill up with air and expand to compress the muscles. Leg sizes include short (>160cm), standard (163cm-191cm) and tall (<191cm), though we’d recommend sizing down as our 163cm height settled into a strange no man’s land between standard and short.

Once you’ve downloaded the free Hyperice app you can choose from seven pre-made sessions for the Normatecs, which instantly load onto the control unit via Bluetooth from a “After a couple of weeks using the Normatecs after every run, our legs felt fresher for longer ” smart phone.

Sessions include the likes of a short 15min ‘pre-workout warm-up’ to longer 45min ‘post-run recovery’ sessions, and there’s even a 25min ‘improve your sleep’ option.

There’s also a custom mode, where you can choose to either settle into a continuous compression cycle or set any duration from 10mins to 2:55hrs (though you’ll need to recharge before then).

Compression level ranges from one to seven, with a zone boost feature for isolated bursts. Our recovery saw us reaching for max compression each time to see any obvious reduction in soreness. But after a couple weeks of using the Normatecs after every run, our legs admittedly felt fresher for longer, especially during those long or hard run sessions.

Although you can set the length of your own sessions, the device doesn’t seem to stick to them or the allotted time in pre-made sessions, instead continuing of its own accord until the cycle is finished.

This seems a bizarre design flaw which could be easily solved by only offering session times within the cycle intervals. Packing the bulky boots away can also be a struggle, so it’d be great to see a carry case included in future. A Pro version (£1,199) is also available, with has an updated touchscreen device, 10 intensity levels and three modes.

Verdict: Great additional recovery aid for athletes with deep pockets

Score: 85%

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Authors​

Kate Milsom is 220 Triathlon's staff writer and a keen endurance triathlete and bikepacker. Kate is in charge of the gear section of the magazine, with particular interests in cycling, nutrition and sports injury. Having previously bikepacked across Europe solo, Kate advocates for adventure and inclusivity within sport.