ActiPatch Knee Wrap – Science, or Sooty’s Magic Wand?

A while back, ActiPatch sent me one of their knee wraps to try out. This was timely as, since building up my cycling mileage, I’d developed a bit of a niggle which meant each time I cycled, my knee hurt. As soon as I got off the bike though, it stopped hurting; it also didn’t hurt while walking, running or at the gym, so I didn’t get round to trying out the wrap.

actipatch-knee-wrap

On Saturday though, I went out for a run and my knee began to hurt. Uh oh, I thought – this doesn’t bode well for the Pilgrims Hospice Cycle Challenge tomorrow, so when I got home I put on the ActiPatch to see if it helped.

Yesterday, I completed the 55 mile hilly ride without a single twinge. Yep, not a single bit of pain, even when I concentrated really hard to feel something. I don’t know what’s in the Actipatch (well, I do actually – it’s electromagnetic pulse therapy) but it’s flipping magic. Maybe Sooty’s in there with his  magic wand. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s some scientific technical thingy. But we’ll pretend it’s Sooty, eh?

actipatch

The ActiPatch has an on/off button and apparently lasts for 720 hours. It consists of a wrap and a cable thingy and it doesn’t matter which way on the wrap goes as all the magic bit happens inside the area the cable is surrounding. The instructions say to keep it on for a minimum of 8 hours a day and it can also be worn at night but I only had it on for about five hours. I also had it on over leggings, so the magical powers can get through clothing. It’s safe and drug free and can be worn by diabetics, arthritics, the elderly and bedridden. The ActiPatch is available from Amazon (and other places such as Boots, etc.) for £19.99.




Janathon Day 15 and an incentive for you to carry on

Last night’s plan for today:

Get up at 7am, go for a short run in a field at 8ish to try out these New Balance Minimus Zero trail shoes

new-balance-minimus-zero

with their snazzy (do we still say ‘snazzy’ or do I sound like an 80s throwback?) Vibram soles

new-balance-minimus-zero-sole

but when I got up I remembered that it snowed and rained all day yesterday and the field would be a bit yuk.

So, Plan B, then:

Get up at 7, go for a road run at about 8.

What happened in reality:

I got up at 7, looked at my university timetable for tomorrow and decided that tomorrow would be better for a run and the gym would be better for today and so I would go to the gym at 9am when it opened.

At 8:30 I fancied some hot chocolate, so I made myself some then decided to do a Janathon mailout as it was the halfway mark. I sent out the Janathon newsletter then stared at the Mail Chimp stats showing me how many people had opened it/clicked a link in it/complained about it, etc. for about an hour then decided it was too late to go to the gym and so I went downstairs to the conservatory and did 20 minutes on the rowing machine. Pathetic, I know.

I haven’t forgotten it says ‘incentive’ in the title.

I mentioned a Janathon incentive. I have waved my Sooty wand (not to be confused with a fairy wand according to Travelling Hopefully but ‘pah’ to her) and magicked* up a pair of running shoes courtesy of SportsShoes.com worth up to £90 to be given away to one lucky Janathon participant who has been hardcore enough to exercise and blog every day.

Oh, what’s that? You’ve been a bit of a slacker? Never mind, I’ve also got some Deep Heat goodies (a tube of Deep Heat, a tube of Deep Freeze and a tube of Deep Relief) that I’ll give away in a draw open to all Janathon participants (although, if you’ve been slacking, you probably don’t need any muscle rub type stuff, do you?)

For more information, visit the competition page on the Janathon website (don’t enter the competitions yet though).

Stats
New pairs of almost barefoot running shoes: 1
Runs in fields done: 0
Road runs done: 0
Gyms gone to: 0
Rowing machine: 20 minutes
Sooty wands: 1
Fairy wands: 0

*asked their PR if I could have some.