Can compression devices enhance recovery?

Some of you may have heard of compression devices designed to enhance recovery from exercise. NormaTec is an intermittent pneumatic compression device that features chambers that sequentially inflate, starting with the ankle, working their way up the leg, and then deflate. You may have seen these devices in a hospital setting, where they are used to reduce blood pooling and prevent the onset of deep vein thrombosis in the lower extremities of patients who must spend long stretches of time in bed. The idea is that by facilitating venous return we may increase the speed of the clearance of lactic acid and thereby speed recovery.

The study recruited 15 healthy male college-age students and after baseline testing had them perform 3 bouts of High-Intensity Interval training. After each training, the participants recovered through Passive recovery (reclining with the legs elevated), Active recovery (cycling at a low intensity), and NormaTec recovery (reclining with the feet elevated while wearing the NormaTec Pulse 2.0 Recovery System at the maximal setting) for 30 minutes.

Blood lactate clearance for both the NormaTec and active recovery conditions was significantly faster than passive recovery. The study participants also completed some performance tests to measure if the recovery methods would impact athletic performance. There was no significant difference in performance after 24 hours of either of the 3 recovery methods.
The results indicate that the NormaTec or active recovery may be most beneficial to people training twice or more per day. For the typical gym goer, who takes a 24 hour recovery between workouts, recovery mode did not impact performance. However, anecdotal statements by the study participants emphasize how good NormaTec feels. The massage-like experience provided relaxation and a potential stress-relief or mental-health benefit.

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