Zensah Shin Sleeves - the right size!

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Zensah shin sleeves. Although I've seen compression socks around locally, I was more interested in the sleeve because it would allow me to wear whatever socks I wanted and I thought they might last longer than a pair of compression socks. I have been wearing them off and on for at least two seasons and I do believe that they have helped in recovery and as well as helping to stave off the shin splints that so often plague me. When I first bought my sleeves, Zensah had two size options to choose from: S/M and L/XL so since I'm only 5'3", I chose the S/M pair. However, they were still too long for me and I often found myself rolling down the top and/or the bottom up. This wasn't a big problem but I thought it would be nice to have a shorter pair.


One day, I tweeted my request to the Zensah people on Twitter. They responded by thanking me for my request and that they'd look into it. A few months later, they contacted me saying that their new XS-S sleeves were now available and they offered to send me a pair to try out!! It wasn't long before the new sleeves arrived in the mail. When I first opened the package and compared them to my old pair, they looked tiny! Not only were they shorter in length, but they also looked smaller around. (The picture shows my S-M sleeve on the left and my new XS-S sleeve on the right.) I was worried that perhaps they were going to be too small. But once I tried them on, they fit perfectly! (See picture below). Although they were tighter than my previous pair, I realized that this new size had better compression and were very comfortable. Not only that, I no longer had to roll down the top band! I've been wearing my sleeves for about a month now - sometimes on a run, and more often lately, as a recovery sleeve after a run, and they feel great! The value of compression after strenuous exercise has been researched and some studies show that they assist in reducing DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Here is a link to a review of one of those studies.

So, a big thank you to Zensah for letting me try out your new smaller size - I know there will definitely be other women out there who will appreciate them!

So how do they look, you ask? Well, at first, I was a little self-conscious putting them on with shorts and running out in public, but once I saw a few pro triathletes wearing them in races, I soon changed my tune. (Check out this list of "famous" people who wear Zensah products). I have the black shin sleeves but they have lots of colour choices, and even patterned ones now. Personally, I'm still contemplating going for that "school girl" look by wearing my shin sleeves with a running skirt and pigtails. ;)