Bibrave Product Review: CTM Band

Disclaimer: I received  a CTM Band to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I’m well known to beat my legs up. I may like to do my fair share of endurance events, and to top it off, I hate foam rolling, despite the necessities of doing it. I’ve been fairly lucky that I’ve only had 2 IT band injuries over the course of my running life, and that was when I had no idea what I was doing. Enter my new friend, the CTM Band.

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CTM stands for Compression, Tension and Movement. The goal? Increase flexibility, decrease muscle pain by simultaneously having compression, tension and movement. The goal? Quicker recovery by targeting specific areas that are sore and tight.

How To Use the CTM Band

• When you first get the CTM Band, it’s wrapped on itself. Unwind it and choose which part of body needs some TLC
• On the CTM Band are 4 half golf ball type balls. Align them with what’s sore
• Wrap away and do it tight, because let’s face it, tight is good (but not beyond painfully tight).
• Keep it on for 2 minutes and take it off
• Need a visual? Take a lookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEH8_iOtjG8

 

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CTM band was developed by Dr. Kyle Bowling, a Chiropractor and former D1 Athlete. It’s goal is to help with soreness and trigger points, as well as help with recovery/treatment of injuries such as plantar fasciitis, IT Band Injuries, and large muscle group tightness. Let me tell you, he’s on to something. With the amount of endurance training I’ve been doing, coupled with my love (or not) of taking days off, the legs get tired, sore and a bit beat up. I’ve come home on more than one occasion and wrapped my CT Band on to a few different areas for 2 minutes each to get some muscle relief. It helps with the tired and helps loosens things up in multiple areas. I feel like I’ve decreased the amount of foam rolling I’ve had to do because of this (it takes 2 minutes. TWO MINUTES. to use).

What else I like about the CTM Band? You can modify the amount of attachments on it. You can have 1 attachment or all 4 depending on what area you’re looking to treat. They easily unscrew and detach from the band itself. Larger muscle groups? Go with all 4 attachments. Smaller muscle groups or a more specific area? remove 2-3 attachments and only have 1-2 on the band for more isolated therapy. I’ve used it mainly on my quads, hamstrings, IT bands and calves with some good relief.

Pros of the CTM Band

1. Target relief
2. Travel sized (though I’m not sure it’ll make it through airport security)
3. Adjustable
4. Lifetime guarantee (something breaks? It’ll be replaced)

One thing I hope CTM Band looks at is maybe doing a version a of the CTM Band with a band that’s wider (think the width of a 4″ ACE Wrap) for some of the larger leg muscle groups. I feel like things may stay better in some instances or you may even be able to hit a little bit more.

Overall though, I like it. I think it’s a good product that is filling a void in the endurance community. Want to give it a try? Use CTMBIBRAVE to save 20% off through their at https://ctm.band/collections/all!