A few weeks ago, after adding some speedy stuff back into my routine, I had 3 days with tight calves.  It wasn’t debilitating, but I had to spend time working on the muscles, massaging and rolling, and during my runs made sure I was careful about keeping it easy with no sharp moves…basically, had to pay attention.

While calf socks and sleeves have become a very common accessory, it never occurred to me to get any; they’re pricey and since the lower leg is not something I struggle with often, it didn’t seem worth it.  But now that I’m getting serious about things, I realized that even for a short bout of light calf or shin tenderness, it’d be silly not to have a pair.  Why not speed recovery and be able to run through a low-level tweak without having to worry about it?  Worth the investment, indeed.

So I posed the question on Facebook to see what everyone’s favorite brand of compression socks were.  I wasn’t interested in sleeves because I’m a vain woman and think they look like goofy sausage casings at the ankles.  Anyway, the majority preference by a large margin were CEP compression socks.

As it turned out, one of my Facebook friends, the uber cool Martina C. knows the folks at CEP and said she might be able to get me a pair for review.  Cool-o!  That was an exciting prospect and I waited to see if she could work her magic.

About a week later, I received a box from CEP…my socks!  The box was pretty heavy though, so I was thinking “Dang, compression gear weighs quite a bit, doesn’t it?”   But opening the box, I was thrilled to find not one pair of compression socks, but three pairs of socks and a pair of compression calf sleeves!  Christmas in February, an incredibly generous bounty.  Now all I needed was some calf, shin or achilles discomfort to put them to the test.

Luckily (sick luck, to hope for a niggle) a couple days later, I felt some tightness in my left gastro so instead of pussyfooting around for the next couple days of runs, I was all “Aha! I have the technology!” and put on my new compression socks.

They were great!  They’re light and quite thin, not bulky in the least and the sock part is very comfortable.  I was amused  by the lengthy step-by-step instructions on how to put them on, but my friend Amy had mentioned that her hubby found it difficult to don compression socks because you put them on like hosiery, something 99.99% of men would not be familiar with. Ah, that makes sense.  But back to the test run…

They felt great!  They supplied an appreciable amount of extra support while staying extremely comfortable. No binding or pinching anywhere, no dropping down (they stay where you put them) and no hotspots on the foot area.  Just solid snug support.  They’re also thin enough that you could wear them in Summer without melting.

The calf sleeves, as it turns out, are also a super cool thing to own. If you have limited funds and can only afford one compression thing for your lower legs, the sleeves are a smart choice since you can wear your own socks with them, ditto if you have picky feet and prefer a certain thickness or type of sock, the sleeves offer more versatility.

Finally, this company has some great info on their site.  The technology page explains in detail the point of compression and the benefits. Their research explains that not only are they a recovery tool, they can make you run faster as well.  I didn’t notice a speed difference with them so I’d say that’s in the eye (or calf) of the beholder, but for the purposes I wanted them, to keep a niggle in check during the run and help it go away faster after, they were perfect.

So I’ll be wearing them whenever I feel tightness in my lower legs, whether calf, shin, peroneal or achilles…CEP compression to the rescue.  Being a pared down type of runner, I don’t expect to be wearing them daily as a prophylactic device as many people do, only when I need them, but man, I sure love having them in my corner.  Thanks, CEP!

14 Responses to “Review of CEP Compression Socks & Calf Sleeves”