What is pressotherapy, and is it right for you?
Compression therapy explained: what the sleeves do, who books it, what it feels like, and the few people who should check with a doctor first.
Pressotherapy is the older name for what most people now call compression therapy. Same thing: you lie down, sleeves go on your legs, hips or arms, and air pulses through them in a rhythmic wave working up from the feet. Thirty minutes later you get up and your legs feel like they belong to you again.
It is the least dramatic looking therapy in the building and the one people notice fastest.
How it works
The sleeves are divided into chambers. They inflate and deflate in sequence rather than squeezing everything at once and holding it, which is what makes it feel like a deep, steady massage rather than a tourniquet. That wave lifts circulation, eases swelling, takes muscle fatigue out and supports lymphatic movement, which is the system that carries fluid and waste away from your tissue.
It should never hurt. If the pressure is not right, say so and it gets dialled down. You can hold a conversation through the whole thing.
Who books it
The clearest case is heavy, tired or swollen legs. You lie down with them feeling like concrete and you get up lighter. Beyond that:
- After training. Less delayed onset muscle soreness, faster recovery between sessions.
- After a long day on your feet, or a long flight. Fluid retention is what makes legs feel full rather than sore.
- Through a heavy training block. Less muscle fatigue and mobility kept up, which is injury prevention rather than injury treatment.
- For how you look. Less puffiness, smoother contours, a more toned line.
- Coming back from surgery. Gentle post-operative use, but see the next section first.
Who should check first
This is the part most articles about pressotherapy skip, and it is the part that matters.
Tell us before you book if you are pregnant, if you have any heart or circulation condition, or if you have or have had a blood clot. If you are recovering from surgery, check with your surgeon before you book. Compression is often exactly what a surgeon wants, but that is their call and not ours.
What a session looks like
You stay dressed, so gym gear or anything comfortable is fine. Pick your area, lie back, and the sleeves go on and inflate. Thirty minutes on one area is $45 at Renew. Legs is what most people book, because it is the area that carries the most fluid and where the change is most obvious. Hips if you sit all day or your glutes and hip flexors are the problem. Arms if your training or your job is upper body.
There is nothing to shower off and nothing to recover from, so plenty of people book it between meetings.
Is it right for you?
If your legs feel heavy and full rather than sore, this is the one. If they feel sore and tight, a deep tissue massage will do more. If you want both, compression is the therapy to finish on: everything else has been getting circulation moving, and this is the one that clears it through.
Compression therapy at Renew is 30 minutes for $45, and it is in the Experience Pass and in three of the four combination packages.