As pioneers in the human performance space, we’re proud of the role KYMIRA technology plays in helping to prevent injuries. In this article we’re going to point out the mechanisms by which infrared technology helps to reduce injury risk and ease you back after an injury. 

This is an article that will contain a number of physiological and biochemical references so is aimed at the more advanced athlete, although anyone suffering from repetitive injuries will benefit from the information in the article.

At a fitness industry convention in 2012, I attended a seminar on injury prevention in competitive athletes. One of the speakers was an American Football coach and he said something that has stuck with me since…. 

  “When it comes to an athlete, their most useful ability is AVAIL-ability. They’re no good to me on the treatment table”

It’s an excellent point and one that many athletes, especially self-coached athletes fail to understand. In the search of faster, further, heavier and longer, it’s easy to ignore the warning signs given by our bodies and push too hard in training. A heavy training load and an under-appreciation of the importance of recovery can lead to injury problems down the line. 

There are a number of ways that KYMIRA can help to prevent injuries in athletes and active populations.

The weight of evidence is heavily in favour of warming up prior to training and competition. Even in sports where the terminology and physical requirements differ, it is widely accepted that the warm-up is an effective way of reducing injury risk [1]. 

The purpose of the warm-up is to prepare the body and relevant tissues for what it is about to do. Regardless of the sport or activity this will be a combination of increasing blood flow to the tissues, which in turn improves range of movement of the joints and connective tissues, priming muscles and movements and finally, raising the temperature of the body.

All of these elements are enhanced by the infrared technology built into every single KYMIRA garment.

In the UK we can experience particularly cold winters and these have a proven knock-on effect when it comes to injury risk. Evidence suggests that muscle tears in particular are more likely to occur in the cold [2], with the risks particularly increasing when it comes to activities that require explosive or high-velocity muscular contractions. 

The KYMIRA fabrics have been tested in temperatures of -35 and have been shown to warm up quicker, and then store the thermal energy 63% longer than an equivalent weight fabric would. When you compound these benefits with the additional blood flow, tissue elasticity and muscle priming benefits, it’s easy to understand how KYMIRA can help to reduce injury risk, ESPECIALLY in cold climates.

In a 2014 study, coaches were asked about the most common reasons for injuries in their particular sport. Unsurprisingly, poor training methods were identified as the main reason athletes experience injury [3]. As you’d expect, the coach’s solutions to this problem were multi-faceted, but included improving strength and flexibility of their athletes were two of the most popular.

For reasons we’ve already discussed, KYMIRA has been shown to improve these elements of fitness substantially. Improving blood flow to tissues is known to improve elasticity, contributing to strength and improvements. Interestingly, there is some early evidence that use of infrared can also help to attenuate the loss of strength post exercise [4]. This suggests it could start the recovery process quicker, meaning athletes would be more fully rested ahead of their next session, therefore reducing injury risk. This rather neatly helps to reduce the risks that coaches in the study identified as a main cause of injury in athletes.

The reality is that injuries are multi-faceted in their origins and that we can’t completely remove them as a risk factor of sport and exercise. What we can do though is reduce the risk factors where possible, in particular when it comes to clothing choices, training and recovery methods.

By wearing KYMIRA clothing you’re giving yourself a significant boost in the injury-prevention arena. By marrying up science with training best practice, you are giving yourself the best possible chance of avoiding potential problems. The key benefits of KYMIRA and infrared in general align perfectly with preventing the most common types of sports injuries.

To see which KYMIRA products would most benefit you in your training and recovery, take a look at our Infrared Training Collection.