Whether you’re an athlete or just someone standing on their feet all day, your calves are second only to your heart when it comes to pumping blood throughout your body. And though it takes more time and energy for your calves to work against gravity to send oxygen-depleted blood upwards to be recirculated, the sleek new Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves ($149 for one, $249 for a pair) can help speed up that process for less muscle soreness.
Calf compression sleeves significantly increased signs of healthy blood flow, according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine, and reduced muscle pain, damage and inflammation in a 2016 study published in Sports Medicine.
Therabody’s RecoveryPulse sleeves double down on these benefits by adding vibration therapy, a kind of stimulus that causes your muscles to contract and relax, which was shown to alleviate delayed onset muscle soreness in a 2019 meta-analysis in Journal of International Medical Research. This rechargeable/vibrating fabric compression adds an additional benefit to standard pneumatic compression sleeves that only use air (like compression boots).
As someone who’s constantly marathon training, I welcome any solution that promises to soothe my beat-up calves. I put the Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves to the test during my biggest week of training before the Tokyo Marathon, and here’s what I thought.
With a built-in rechargeable battery holder that powers vibration therapy, the sleek, simple-to-use Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves offer an added benefit to standard compression sleeves or socks. And, because they are less bulky then compression boots, you can easily take them anywhere you may roam (run?).
What we liked about it
Super-compact and portable design
I love using compression boots before or after a long or hard run, but they’re not exactly easy to travel with. But compression socks or sleeves are meant to be worn during exercise, after exercise for recovery and during travel, so they’re much more versatile. If you can picture a calf-high performance sock with the foot cut off, that’s the RecoveryPulse Calf sleeve. Made from a sweat-resistant and machine-washable fabric, these sleeves use what’s called gradient compression — meaning they’re tighter at the bottom and looser at the top — to squeeze blood flow upwards.
What sets the Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves apart from standard compression sleeves is the built-in rechargeable battery holder that powers vibration therapy, but I especially liked that they were still sleek enough to pull sweatpants or even jeans over them. I’ll 100% be traveling with these for the Tokyo Marathon.
The triple whammy of benefits
Yes, the main advantage here is compression. But the two Xs woven across the calf hide micromotors that vibrate in three patterns: low (for general recovery and pain relief), high (for warmups and exercise recovery), and wave (a tailored pattern from low to high to maximize the contrast and stimulation to the nervous system). To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference in terms of benefits of each pattern. I preferred the wave option just for variability; the vibration wasn’t as strong as the battering you get from a massage gun or the squeeze you get from pneumatic compression boots, but all three options made me feel like the sleeves were more proactive than basic compression socks or sleeves.
Thermabody also touts the fabric’s infusion with germanium, a chemical element that is meant to counterbalance the ions the body emits under stress. That’s not something you can feel or see, and can’t be measured without the aid of a lab, but some studies have shown positive outcomes, so I’ll take it.
What we didn’t like about it
The seam at the top
As far as compression goes (and minus the vibration therapy), these felt pretty similar to the sock-like 2XU Light Speed Compression Calf Guards ($60) that I’ve used most frequently (I’ve run multiple marathons in one or both). My only pain point was the seam across the top of the Therabody sleeves; it dug into the top of my calf right below my knee joint in a sausage-casing kind of way that I definitely wouldn’t want to experience while running, and was borderline uncomfortable during recovery. I tested a medium, and likely won’t go larger because I wouldn’t want to lose the feeling of compression, but I do wish the upper were seamless. As far as sizing goes, different people prefer different levels of compression, so it’s important that you check the sizing chart on the Therabody site and measure your calf circumference before committing.
A little more power
The RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves are powered by VibraPulse Technology, a patent-pending design from Therabody that uses the brand’s QX-Micro Motors. They’re very quiet (especially compared to the original jackhammer Theragun), but I found myself craving a deeper level of vibration more akin to the percussive therapy used in massage guns or the oh-so-tight squeeze of the pneumatic compression you experience in boots. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for these; they’re definitely easier to travel with and easier to use while doing anything else (including exercise).
How it compares
If compression boots like the Normatec 3 Legs ($799) or Therabody RecoveryAir JetBoots ($899) are at one end of the spectrum, and compression sleeves like the ones from 2XU or the Go Kinesiology + Compression Calf Sleeves ($100), which I also use, are at the other end, the self-vibrating technology of the Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf Sleeves falls somewhere in the middle. Again, they don’t pack the same power as full compression boots, but the added benefit of vibration plus compression feels more beneficial than plain old sleeves.
Spryng Compression Wrap sleeves ($300) and the Normatec Go Calf Sleeves ($399) are most comparable from a tech perspective, but they use pneumatic compression rather than vibration. While they offer stronger compression than the RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves, they also have more bulk and aren’t quite as versatile.
The bottom line
While I wanted more power from the Therabody RecoveryPulse Calf sleeves, I liked how they combined multiple forms of therapy compared to traditional compression socks or sleeves. These certainly won’t replace my larger, and pricier, compression boots after a tough workout, but I see them more as a complement to other recovery modalities. And you better believe these will be in my carry-on to Japan.