Welcome to our industry spotlight series, where we take a deep dive into the industries where CELLIANT® is making its mark. In this article, we look at the athletic recovery and sports medicine industry, discussing various types of recovery modalities in the market and how CELLIANT infrared fabric technology fits in and can help athletic brands truly differentiate themselves.
As more and more people become health conscious and exercise becomes an expanding priority within more people’s lives, the accompanying sports medicine and sports recovery fields grow in importance as well. Before we dive into the growing market, let’s be clear on the two terms, ‘sports medicine’ and ‘sport recovery.’
Sports medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise.
Sports recovery is a part of sports medicine related to the techniques and devices that help athletes return to their normal physiological state as quickly as possible.
Looking at the potential in the market, we can look at MarketWatch’s press release that reports the global sports medicine market size was valued at USD 6511 in 2022 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.06 percent, reaching USD 9806 million by 2028. This has been cited as a noteworthy growth number, and the figures would certainly indicate that.
Of course, sports recovery is a part of the overall sports medicine market trend, but it’s clear there’s a large and rapidly growing market focused on people maximizing their efforts in athletics and exercise.
With sports medicine and recovery and overall interest in health and wellness rising, there’s been a number of innovations to help people both prepare for exercise and get back to their best as quickly as possible after physical activity. Let’s look at some of the current trends that everyone from professional athletes to personal trainers to everyday movers are using to be at their best.
Body monitoring devices are wearable technologies that give people insight into their activity levels and performance. Examples of body monitoring wearables are smart watches, wearable ECG and blood pressure monitors, smart clothing and smart rings. This technology has a number of advantages, including giving people more control over their physical health, increasing physical activity, and providing valuable data for healthcare providers.
The body monitoring wearable market is significant. The global wearable technology industry is predicted to expand to $54 billion by 2023 and $61.4 billion by 2025. One leading example is Fitbit, which has approximately 30 million active users.
Cryotherapy is the practice of exposing the body to extreme cold post-exercise. This has the effect of reducing inflammation and accelerating the repair process by stimulating blood flow and lymphatic fluid movement, bringing nutrients and oxygen to the muscles and tissues.
Ice baths and cold temperature exposure that have become popular recently are a form of cryotherapy but more modern modalities include chambers that can reach much colder temperatures—down to -300℉.
Oxygen therapy is a method many professional athletes use to bring more oxygen to their muscles and tissues in between workouts so they recover faster. Typically done in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, where the air pressure is increased 2-3 times normal, allowing the lungs to breathe in much more oxygen than at normal air pressure. The increase in available oxygen to the body helps muscle and tissue recover faster.
CBD has moved from a fringe trend to a mainstream recovery tool. CBD is used for its ability to alleviate aches and pains and reduce inflammation, helping athletes come back faster and stronger. A review in 2020 suggests the optimism around CBD’s benefits that further, controlled studies in an athletic environment are warranted.
Light therapy has many use cases depending on what type of light is used. Red light therapy has become popular among athletes for recovery as it is believed to reduce inflammation and improve circulation.
Further along the light spectrum, just past red light and into light that is not visible to the human eye, we find infrared light. Infrared has become a popular choice among athletes for recovery. Infrared saunas are one form of infrared delivery that helps to loosen muscles and increase local circulation, along with many other recovery benefits. Our partners at Sunlighten Saunas are leaders in the infrared sauna space.
Infrared technology embedded in textiles, like products powered by CELLIANT, is another way for people to receive the benefits of infrared for recovery from physical activity. CELLIANT is a proprietary blend of bioceramics that can be embedded into a wide range of fibers and yarns, or printed directly on any fabric, giving that textile the ability to convert body heat into full-spectrum infrared. The infrared is reflected back into the muscles and tissues, resulting in increased local circulation and improved cellular oxygenation, helping the body recover faster.
CELLIANT is embedded into textiles, making it the perfect technology for a wide range of products that can help athletes recover.
Sleep is critical for good health, and it is also critical to an athlete’s recovery. Mattresses and top of bed products not only help speed recovery with increased local circulation, but CELLIANT has also been shown to promote restful sleep.
We have a number of mattress and bedding partner brands and products that appeal to athletes around the world, including:
KT Tape is the world leader in kinesiology tape. Their newest product, Pro Oxygen, is powered by CELLIANT to deliver the benefits of infrared in addition to KT tapes own benefits. Used by USATF athletes, and athletes around the world, KT Tape Pro Oxygen is quickly making a name for itself in the athletic performance and recovery market.
Apparel is a perfect fit for CELLIANT infrared technology, because it too is designed to help athletes recover faster. From athleisure, to performance apparel, to sleepwear, to compression base layers, to accessories like IR socks, CELLIANT fits a wide variety of athletic and recovery apparel.
We have a number of performance apparel partner brands and products that appeal to athletes around the world, including:
The sports recovery market is a growing, but crowded space. Brands need every edge to differentiate themselves and appeal to this consumer’s willingness to explore different ways to get any edge or improved efficiency. CELLIANT can bring wellness benefits, differentiation and compelling product storytelling to any recovery product. It is complementary to other existing and growing athletic recovery focused modalities. And, it builds loyalty with customers, because rather than just selling them any product, you are selling a product that helps them solve a need or a problem: the desire to recover faster from physical activity.
To learn more about how to incorporate CELLIANT into recovery equipment for your brand, please fill out the form below to set up a meeting with our business development team.
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