Key Takeaways:
- Before investing in a sports recovery system, identify your primary recovery goals. This will help you determine which recovery technologies are right for you.
- The main recovery technologies are dynamic compression, cold therapy, and heat therapy.
- Look beyond the tech to compare practical features, such as portability, ease of use, and FDA clearance.
Whether you’re a dedicated weekend warrior or a professional athlete, you’re someone who enjoys pushing your limits and seeing the best version of yourself. But you know that with that extra push, that extra dedication, come familiar feelings of muscle fatigue and soreness.
These natural byproducts of hard work are inevitable. That’s why combining your efforts with recovery methods is crucial. Having a recovery system is essential for healthy, sustainable performance, but determining how to choose the right sports recovery system for your goals is a process.
Aquilo Sports created this three-step guide to help you define your recovery goals, understand the core technologies driving sports recovery, and select the sports recovery unit and method that suits your needs.
Step 1: Define Your Primary Recovery Goals
Before you can identify the right recovery tool, it’s necessary to define what “recovery” means to you. What are your main goals? Are you looking for a tool that reduces fatigue and soreness after intense training sessions, or something that helps you recharge between competitions?
Your answers help determine your ideal sports recovery system. Consider an elite marathoner versus a fitness enthusiast: The runner likely wants to focus on managing post-race swelling, which may include compression therapy products. In contrast, the enthusiast may wish to target soreness after weight training, which may comprise cold therapy.
By narrowing your recovery focus, you learn what’s most vital. It becomes easier to identify the attributes of different recovery methods and decide which aligns most with your needs.
Step 2: Understand the Core Technologies
So what’s available? What technologies represent the best in sport recovery methods? In truth, the fundamentals, or core technologies, remain constant; it’s the application and approaches that change.
Dynamic Compression
A sports recovery system that uses dynamic compression employs rhythmic, pulsating pressure to simulate natural muscle pump action. This process improves circulation and accelerates the removal of metabolic waste.
Typically, dynamic compression units are pneumatic systems that include a sleeve or wrap. The pneumatic device pushes air in and through the wearable, manipulating the pressure to create a massage-like effect that squeezes waste products away from the affected area.
Compression therapy products, then, knead the muscles, encouraging biological processes, leading to reduced soreness, decreased swelling, and faster recovery times. This allows for restored muscle elasticity and more effortless movement, ideal for a sports recovery system.
Cold Therapy
Cold therapy is a traditional sports recovery method. Ice baths are the most common form, but newer systems allow for more targeted approaches that are less taxing on the individual.
Modern cold therapies maintain the original goals of traditional setups (temporary pain relief and reduced swelling) but take a more targeted approach. These targeted methods include utilizing specific and well-established practices, such as Palmer cooling.
The systems are often more hygienic than DIY ice bath methods and allow for a more tailored recovery practice.
Heat Therapy
As a sports recovery system, heat therapy can provide temporary relief from minor aches and pains. It excels at helping muscles feel looser by improving flexibility and increasing circulation, which are ideal before intense activity. For recovery, heat therapy is best when combined with cold therapy. Both systems can reduce post-workout soreness.
The All-in-One Advantage
Aquilo combines each of these recovery methods into a compact and convenient unit: the CCT1500 control unit. The unit is an example of cryocompression therapy, meaning it’s a combination of cold and compression therapy products. But that’s not all. When combined with the heater device, the unit also becomes a heat therapy tool.
This all-in-one sports recovery system offers the combined benefits of lymphatic drainage, reduced swelling, and temporary pain relief, typically achieved with three separate systems or modalities. With Aquilo’s control units and targeted wraps, you can customize your sports recovery technique.
Step 3: Compare 3 Key Factors
Beyond the recovery method, it’s essential to think of how you’ll use and maintain the equipment and tools. For example, if you choose a traditional cold therapy practice, such as ice baths, how do you ensure access and cleanliness, especially when on the road or without access to a team unit?
You must compare three factors, weigh the options for each recovery technique, and decide what sacrifices you’re willing to make in pursuit of your ideal sports recovery system.
1. Portability and Convenience
What is your routine like? If you’re a fitness enthusiast or a weekend warrior, you likely don’t travel across the country to practice or exercise. You may have room for a dedicated ice bath or a larger recovery unit. But not everyone has the luxury of space.
If, instead, you’re a professional athlete, portability is your best friend when it comes to a sports recovery tool. Aquilo’s cold compression therapy products are compact, portable, and can last as long as three hours on a single charge (enough time for up to 12 recovery sessions).
2. Ease of Use and Hygiene
You’ll also want to consider maintenance and cleanliness. DIY ice baths, for example, are notoriously hard to maintain. The (dangerous) chest freezer conversions so popular on social media are challenging to fill, empty, and clean, creating numerous opportunities for bacterial growth and other contaminants.
The Aquilo units are easy to fill and empty. They require minimal water and ice, and you never come in physical contact with the water during a session.
3. Customization and Intended Use
The Aquilo sports recovery system is an FDA-cleared device, meaning it’s approved for sports recovery, unlike freezer conversions. Its compact and versatile design means it’s customizable. With leg sleeves, shoulder wraps, and more, the system can adapt to your needs.
Find the System That Empowers Your Performance
Look, choosing the proper sports recovery tool is a big decision. It’s essential to assess your personal needs and wants before making what can be an expensive purchase. That said, the Aquilo sports recovery system is a unique all-in-one recovery tool that gives you control over the process. If you’re ready to start your sports recovery or simply want to know more about one of our units, contact the Aquilo team. We’re here to help.
