Compression boots are one of the biggest innovations in the recovery category. The inflatable, electronic leg sleeves use pneumatic compression to ease post-workout soreness.
They’re designed for muscle recovery after intense exercise sessions, suiting everyone from athletes to keen runners or gym-goers. To do this, they inflate from the feet to the hips to stimulate circulation, encourage fluid drainage, and relieve post-workout swelling and muscle stiffness.
While the science around this therapeutic technique, called Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC), is still thin, recovery boots are trusted for post-exercise recovery by professional footballers, tennis players, runners – and weightlifters, who we worked with to review the boots featured below, including Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Laura Hughes. Besides that, they’re also useful for midlifers, as they can improve blood flow as natural circulation slows with age, plus reduce leg swelling and ease ageing muscles.
In fact, IPC was first invented in 1970 for medical patients to reduce the risk of blood clots and increase blood flow. In 1998, the technology was refined by Laura Jacobs, the founder of Normatec, when she invented the first compression sleeve as a non-invasive treatment for circulation disorders.
Fast-forward to the present day, and brands like Therabody, Normatec and Myomaster are designing products for at-home recovery. They’re definitely an investment – starting at £299 and rising to £1,000 – but they’re popular with the pros for a reason.
The best compression boots: At a glance
How we test compression boots