Out of Play
NormaTec: Introducing the Michelin Man-style trousers that use to aid muscle recovery
EIGHT years ago, League Two footballer Ryan Brunt suffered a horrific injury which threatened to end his career before it had even started.
Playing for a Stoke youth team, the now Exeter City centre forward ruptured his cruciate knee ligaments at their Clayton Wood training ground aged just 16.
Physios gave him the usual advice of rest, ice, compression and elevation — known commonly as RICE as he began his 12-month lay-off.
Stoke’s training centre also provided a machine that applied pressure to his legs, but he wanted to do more to speed up the healing process.
In his race to return to match fitness, Brunt spent one evening surfing the web and came across NormaTec, who produced boots that aid rapid recovery.
Brunt, now 24, asked the Massachusetts-based company if they would ship one across the Atlantic to him and they happily obliged.
“That was the first time I picked up the NormaTec,” Brunt told SunSport.
“I’ve been using them for eight years now, ever since I did my knee.”
The device is designed to help prime athletes recover faster between workouts by reducing muscle soreness and improves circulation, Brunt explained.
“The NormaTec is basically an air compression device.
“Put simply, it’s a 24/7 on-call massage therapist service.
“It squeezes from the ankle up to the quad, flushing the lactic acid and toxins out of your system and reprocessing it.
“The new and oxygenated blood helps recovery time, injury and fatigue.”
Having reaped the benefits of these Michelin Man-style trousers, Brunt suspected some of his colleagues would be interested in trying them too.
At first, he began sub-letting them and then saw an opportunity to expand his career options.
Today, the Grecians striker says he juggles being a footballer with working as a full-time head of NormaTec UK.
Business is booming.
Two years ago, he got a call from a representative of his most high-profile client, Anthony Joshua.
Together, with the rest of the NormaTec team, Brunt made the 250-mile trip from their headquarters in Exeter to Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport.
Joshua was getting ready to fight Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA and IBO titles at the time.
“Anthony Joshua is probably the biggest star we’ve dealt with,” Brunt said.
“We went up to Sheffield, explained the boots to him, showed him how to use them and when to use them and he was great.
“He was exactly how he comes across on the TV.”
After picking up £15million from his victory against Klitschko, Joshua can certainly afford them.
NormaTec devices range from £1,600 to £4,500.
“They’re not cheap, but they may be to some of the athletes that buy them,” Brunt said.
For Joshua, a sportsman relying on his arms more than his legs, NormaTec provides the necessary attachments.
At the age of 28, the undefeated Briton is looking for small gains ahead of his pursuit of heavyweight domination.
Aston Villa captain John Terry is another firm believer in the healing qualities of the NormaTec.
The device has been a necessity as he enters the autumn of his career.
The former Chelsea captain featured just 14 times for Antonio Conte’s team last season, but has been rejuvenated in the Championship.
He frequently posts videos online wearing the NormaTec boots – which is the very place he first made contact with Brunt.
“It was over Instagram that he messaged us,” he said.
“John reached out to us and one of the Aston Villa players had given him a pair to try.
“He got in touch, said he really liked them and wanted to get a pair.”
Should Villa reach the play-off final at Wembley on May 26, Terry could finish the campaign having played 36 games — and he hasn’t closed the door on another season.
And Terry and Brunt aren’t the only footballers who wear NormaTec trousers.
Paul Pogba, the most expensive player in the Premier League, wears them. As does his Manchester United team-mate Antonio Valencia and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Gareth Bale and Saido Berahino have also appeared on their social media using them.
“They can spend 45 minutes to an hour wearing them in the comfort of their own home, while watching Super Sunday or playing on their PlayStation,” Brunt said.
As NormaTec continues to grow in the world of sport, they’re also influencing rugby stars.
Exeter Chiefs’ England and Lions winger Jack Nowell is Brunt’s latest customer.
“They’re very good for post training sessions,” Nowell told SunSport. “I genuinely use them daily to get a bit of heaviness out of my legs.
“Personally, I love using them on the morning of a game, to get that pre-match massage and my legs fresh for the tough 80 minutes ahead.”
Rarely do injuries provide positives for professional athletes.
But for Brunt, NormaTec and British sport’s elite, there was a silver lining to that dark day for him back in 2010.
The Science Behind NormaTec
Created by a physician bioengineer (MD, PhD) to enhance blood flow and speed recovery, NormaTec Pulse Massage Pattern employs three key techniques to maximize your recovery.
PULSING: Instead of using static compression (squeezing) to transport fluid out of the limbs, Sequential Pulse Technology uses dynamic compression (pulsing). Our patented pulsing action more effectively mimics the muscle pump of the legs and arms, greatly enhancing the movement of fluid and metabolites out of the limbs after an intense workout.
GRADIENTS: Veins and lymphatic vessels have one-way valves that prevent fluid backflow. Similarly, NormaTec Pulse Technology uses hold pressures to keep fluids from being forced in the wrong direction. Because of this enhancement, instead of tapering pressure off, the PULSE and PULSE PRO can deliver maximum pressure in every zone.
DISTAL RELEASE: Because extended static pressure can be detrimental to the body’s normal circulatory flow, Sequential Pulse Technology releases the hold pressures once they are no longer needed to prevent backflow. By releasing the hold pressure in each zone as soon as possible, each portion of the limb gains maximal rest time without a significant pause between compression cycles.
A night guard at Ibuowo Estate, Okinni, Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, on Saturday, allegedly shot dead a 40-year-old man, Badmus Mohammed.
The guard, Rasaq Moshood, DAILY POST gathered, shot Mohammed, a tenant, who is popularly called Lasgidi dead with his dane gun.
His Landlord, Kazeem Jimoh told DAILY POST that he was at a bar with the deceased till midnight on Friday, before he was called on phone about his death.
According to Kazeem, his tenant was killed at the front of the house, while his door was left open.
“I and Kazeem were at a bar till past 12 when I left him.
“I didn’t sleep at home but I got a call around 1 a.m. that Lasgidi was killed by a guard. When i got home, I saw his door open, while his corpse was outside,” he said.
The Police spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident.
She noted that three night guards have been arrested with their dane guns.
According to her, “one Babatunde Olumide, the Chairman of Ibuowo Estate Okinni reported at dada Estate Divisional Police Hqts., that their night guard, one Moshood Rasaq used his dane gun to shoot one Mohammed Badmus, aged 40 years and he died instantly.
“Suspect has been arrested, gun used has been recovered, while the corpse has been taken to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy.”
Opalola added that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China’s longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power.
The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing’s drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.
Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust, with the ground crew who had kept clear of the landing site rushing in helicopters to reach the capsule.
The two men and one woman — Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping — returned to Earth shortly before 10 am Beijing time (0200 GMT), after six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station.
Ground crew applauded as the astronauts each took turns to report that they were in good physical condition.
Zhai was the first to emerge from the capsule roughly 45 minutes after the landing, waving and grinning at cameras as he was lifted by the ground crew into a specially designed chair before being bundled into a blanket.
“I’m proud of our heroic country,” Zhai said in an interview with CCTV shortly after leaving the capsule. “I feel extremely good.”
The trio originally launched in the Shenzhou-13 from China’s northwestern Gobi Desert last October, as the second of four crewed missions during 2021-2022 sent to assemble the country’s first permanent space station — Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace.”
Wang became the first Chinese woman to spacewalk last November, as she and her colleague Zhai installed space station equipment during a six-hour stint.
Mission commander Zhai, 55, is a former fighter pilot who performed China’s first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a People’s Liberation Army pilot.
The trio have completed two spacewalks, carried out numerous scientific experiments, set up equipment and tested technologies for future construction during their time in orbit.
The astronauts spent the past few weeks tidying up and preparing the cabin facilities and equipment for the crew of the incoming Shenzhou-14, expected to be launched in the coming months.
China’s previous record spaceflight mission length was set by last year’s Shenzhou-12 deployment, which lasted 92 days.
Six months will become the normal astronaut residence period aboard the Chinese space station, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Space race
The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a permanently crewed space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.
The country has come a long way in catching up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.
But under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country’s plans for its heavily-promoted “space dream” have been put into overdrive.
Besides a space station, Beijing is also planning to build a base on the Moon, and the country’s National Space Administration said it aims to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.
China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011 when the US banned NASA from engaging with the country.
While China does not plan to use its space station for global cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration although the scope of that cooperation is not yet clear.
The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA has said it could remain functional until 2030.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday with explosions heard soon after across the country and its foreign minister warning a “full-scale invasion” was underway.
Weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.
“I have made the decision of a military operation,” Putin said in a surprise television announcement that triggered immediate condemnation from US President Joe Biden and sent global financial markets into turmoil.
Shortly after the announcement, explosions were heard in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and several other cities, according to AFP correspondents.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his address to the nation at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 21, 2022. Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP
Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms and justified the operation by claiming the government was overseeing a “genocide” in the east of the country.
The Kremlin had earlier said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.
The extent of Thursday’s attacks was not immediately clear, but Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the worst-case scenario was playing out.
“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Kuleba tweeted.
“This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
Biden immediately warned of “consequences” for Russia and that there would be a “catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.
NATO’s chief condemned Russia’s “reckless and unprovoked attack” on Ukraine.
Putin’s move came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal late on Wednesday night to Russians not to support a “major war in Europe”.
Speaking Russian, Zelensky said that the people of Russia were being lied to about Ukraine.
Zelensky said he had tried to call Putin but there was “no answer, only silence”, adding that Moscow now had around 200,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s borders.
Earlier on Wednesday the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk sent separate letters to Putin, asking him to “help them repel Ukraine’s aggression”, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The two letters were published by Russian state media and were both dated February 22.
Their appeals came after Putin recognised their independence and signed friendship treaties with them that include defence deals.
– ‘Moment of peril’ –
Putin had for weeks defied a barrage of international criticism over the crisis, with some Western leaders saying he was no longer rational.
His announcement of the military operation came ahead of a last-ditch summit involving European Union leaders in Brussels planned for Thursday.
The 27-nation bloc had also imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and high-ranking figures including the commanders of Russia’s army, navy and air force, another part of the wave of Western punishment after Putin sought to rewrite Ukraine’s borders.
The United Nations Security Council met late Wednesday for its second emergency session in three days over the crisis, with a personal plea there by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Putin going unheeded.
“President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died,” Guterres said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned that an all-out Russian invasion could displace five million people, triggering a new European refugee crisis.
Before Putin’s announcement, Ukraine had urged its approximately three million citizens living in Russia to leave.
“We are united in believing that the future of European security is being decided right now, here in our home, in Ukraine,” President Zelensky said during a joint media appearance with the visiting leaders of Poland and Lithuania.
Western capitals said Russia had amassed 150,000 troops in combat formations on Ukraine’s borders with Russia, Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea and on warships in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has around 200,000 military personnel, and could call up to 250,000 reservists.
Moscow’s total forces are much larger — around a million active-duty personnel — and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.
– High cost of war –
But Ukraine has received advanced anti-tank weapons and some drones from NATO members. More have been promised as the allies try to deter a Russian attack or at least make it costly.
Shelling had intensified in recent days between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists — a Ukrainian soldier was killed on Wednesday, the sixth in four days — and civilians living near the front were fearful.
Dmitry Maksimenko, a 27-year-old coal miner from government-held Krasnogorivka, told AFP that he was shocked when his wife came to tell him that Putin had recognised the two Russian-backed separatist enclaves.
“She said: ‘Have you heard the news?’. How could I have known? There’s no electricity, never mind internet. I don’t know what is going to happen next, but to be honest, I’m afraid,” he said.
In a Russian village around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border, AFP reporters saw military equipment including rocket launchers, howitzers and fuel tanks mounted on trains stretching for hundreds of metres.
Russia has long demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining the NATO alliance and that US troops pull out from Eastern Europe.
Speaking to journalists, Putin on Tuesday set out a number of stringent conditions if the West wanted to de-escalate the crisis, saying Ukraine should drop its NATO ambition and become neutral.
Washington Wednesday announced sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Germany had earlier effectively suspended by halting certification.
Australia, Britain, Japan and the European Union have all also announced sanctions.
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