Which Gadgets Help, & Which Are A Waste Of Time?

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝I’m a 67- year old yoga teacher and runner. A lifelong runner, I started long distance running when I was 58. One of my friends loves rucking? I recently bought a rucking vest. Your thoughts? Any risks?

As a perk of my yoga instructor job I get cryotherapy, red light therapy, infrared sauna, and Normatec boots for a nominal fee. Even though they are almost free, I don’t take advantage of them as I can’t find evidence of their value and don’t want to waste my time. Do you recommend any of them?❞

On rucking and rucking vests

First, for any unfamiliar, this is about walking/running/exercising in general, with a weighted backpack or weight vest.

As for whether this is beneficial, it depends on your goals. Once upon a very long time ago when this writer was a soldier, it was vitally important to for me be able to [fall from the sky and then] run about 2km carrying a certain (hefty) amount of weight and still be able to fight at the other end of it, or else I would die. Thus, between deployments, I’d often carry a sturdy rucksack with concrete slabs in it, to keep myself accustomed to that burden (funny story: someone once tried to steal that when I had put it down while doing something—the would-be thief fell over instantly and then ran away empty-handed). And, here’s the thing: this kind of training did for me what I needed it to do for me. As a 67-year-old yoga teacher, your needs are probably very different.

A common reason to use weight vests is in an effort against osteoporosis, but the evidence is lacking (or very weak, at best), as we wrote about a while back:

Weight Vests Against Osteoporosis: Do They Really Build Bone?

With regard to risks… Let’s put it this way: my old regiment, in addition to the usual soldierly problems like hearing damage and PTSD, has quite a reputation for producing veterans with spinal compression injuries. And that’s entirely because of the whole “running with a large amount of weight strapped to us” thing. So, you probably don’t want that.

If you are going to do that though, then:

• a weight best is a lot better than a backpack (better distribution of weight)
• start with low weight and work up, and don’t push your limits

We’re not the boss of you, so by all means do as you see fit, but unless there’s a special reason why being able to run with a heavy weight is important to you, then running with a light weight is already more than good enough.

About those job perks

Again, of course, it depends on what you hope to get out of them, but in some cases there is a lot of evidence for benefit.

On cryotherapy: Ice Baths: To Dip Or Not To Dip? ← there are definite benefits for most people!

On red light therapy: Red Light, Go! Casting Yourself In A Healthier Light ← there are some caveats re people who should not do this or at least should be very wary, but for most people, this does a lot of good, and is very well-evidenced to be beneficial

On infrared saunas: we’re unaware of any special evidence in favor of these. However, traditional saunas have plenty of well-evidenced benefits: Saunas: Health Benefits (& Caveats)

On Normatec boots: for the unfamiliar, this is a brand name for compression technology. Again, it depends on what you want to get out of it, though. If you are in good health, then what it’s generally being advertised for is to prevent/reduce exercise-induced muscle damage caused by the stress that endurance training can place on skeletal muscle. Just one problem—it doesn’t seem to work:

❝Athletes attempt to aid their recovery in various ways, one of which is through compression. Dynamic compression consists of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices, such as the NormaTec Recovery System and Recovery Pump

Clinical Question: What are the effects of IPC on the reduction of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage (EIMD) in endurance athletes following prolonged exercise? Summary of Key Findings: The current literature was searched to identify the effects of IPC, and 3 studies were selected: 2 randomized controlled trials and 1 randomized cross-over study. Two studies investigated the effect of IPC on delayed onset muscle soreness and plasma creatine kinase in ultramarathoners. The other looked at the impact of IPC on delayed onset muscle soreness in marathoners, ultramarathoners, triathletes, and cyclists.

All studies concluded IPC was not an effective means of improving the reduction of EIMD in endurance-trained athletes.❞

Read in full: The Effects of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression on the Reduction of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Endurance Athletes: A Critically Appraised Topic

However! If you have lipedema and/or lymphedema and want to manage that, then compression gear may help:

Watch Out For Lipedema

Take care!