We've spent many a miserable hour wrapped in soggy Tubigrip, trying to follow the ‘Compression, Elevation’ part of the RICE principle. This simple but great idea that’s been gaining popularity in the US gives you all the benefits of graduated compression, with special pockets for ice – but it comes at a hefty price.
The thick, 70 denier tights are perfectly comfortable but it’s the extras we liked. They come with ice sheets which you run under water for a minute or so, they absorb the water, then put in the freezer. You can cut them to size easily and they’re reusable, and they’ll last a few hours in the special ‘cool bag’ that comes with them – so in theory you can take them to a short race and ice your legs straight afterwards.
What is best about these three-quarter tights is that they allow you to ice areas that, otherwise, would involve being laid up, like the back of the hips and top of the thighs. We also found that the combination of the soft, fairly thin ice sheets and thick tights meant no freezer burn, so we could keep the ice on for longer. Expensive, but worth it if you’re injured.