The 2024 NFL Draft is almost here, and the '24-'25 pre-season workouts will be underway in just a few short weeks! Last season, we saw big upsets to season-ending injuries, with just two teams staying healthy enough to make it to Super Bowl LVIII. While NFL players have trainers and coaching staff to help them stay healthy throughout the season, a few teams have had a trick up their "sleeve". GO Sleeves was used by several NFL teams last season, including the San Francisco 49ers, with several more teams incorporating GO Sleeves into their training and recovery routines in the '24-'25 season. With many of the top NFL programs using GO Sleeves after games and practices, it seems that GO Sleeves' technology to aid in recovery may be the best kept secret in the NFL.

Tom Zheng, former Performance Therapist for the San Francisco 49ers, has a master’s in kinesiology and applied exercise science, a Ph.Dc in human health and performance and organizational leadership, and is a current member of the GO Sleeves team. We sat down with him to discuss the 2023/2024 NFL season and what players’ bodies go through day-to-day, and what they can do to stay healthy all the way through to the Super Bowl. With a growing number of professional players using GO Sleeves kinesiology sleeves and K-Recover Cream, Tom shares insight into recovery, kinesiology principles, and how GO Sleeves can help every body—from the weekend warriors to avid gardeners and, of course, professional athletes.

SF 49ers Defensive End Spencer Waege testing out GO Sleeves Knee Sleeves at the 49er Facility in Santa Clara, CA.

Football is known for its physical intensity and high-impact plays, which poses inherent risks of injuries to players at all levels. The dynamic nature of the sport, involving tackles, sudden directional changes, and high-impact collisions, make football players prone to injury. Understanding and addressing these injuries become paramount for players' long-term well-being and sustained performance on the field.

Football players experience a range of injuries, with some being more prevalent and impactful than others. Among the most common football injuries are concussions, posing significant risk due to head impacts during tackles or collisions. Additionally, ankle and knee sprains are common, often resulting from sudden twists or awkward landings. Ligament tears, particularly the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) are prevalent and can sideline players for significant periods of time. Hamstring strains, affecting the muscles at the back of the thigh, are also common due to rapid sprints or sudden stops. These injuries can significantly affect a player's ability to perform and require proper rehabilitation. While severe injuries like ACL tears or meniscus damage are widely discussed, injuries caused by overuse such as muscle strains, shin splints, tightness, inflammation and fatigue can significantly impair a player's performance and longevity. Football players face these injury risks almost on a daily basis throughout the season, highlighting the need for injury prevention and effective recovery strategies.

Understanding Kinesiology and how GO Sleeves Can Help

Kinesiology, at a base level, is the study of movement. Technology like GO Sleeves was created and implemented to help improve motion and help restore your body’s basic functionality in joints, musculature, etc. But GO Sleeves technology doesn’t stop at helping with functionality. GO Sleeves applied principles of kinesiology to improve your body’s physiology—to help it get back to the state before injury or wear and tear. That’s the magic here.

In addition to kinesiology sleeves, the GO Sleeves K-Recover Cream acts as a primer to help you improve the elements in and underneath your skin, making the kinesio tech sleeve more effective in reducing inflammation in the application area. The K-Recover cream has active ingredients that affect a different portion of your physiology, particularly if you're an athlete and have been under a lot of physical and nervous duress. And nervous is just a broad term for all the mental stressors that you might be going through. 

MAGNESIUM

One of the most prominent and well-known active ingredients is magnesium. It plays a crucial role in supporting musculature in the rebuild process and another added benefit of affecting your nervous system. It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous reaction, a broader term that points to the state your body takes as it calms down to prepare for a state rest. Magnesium stimulates your body to go into that rest state, a state your body requires to properly recover. One of the perfect applications for K-Recover Cream is post-activity to allow your body to actually rest, recover and relax. 


GLUCOSAMINE

Glucosamine is used by the body to make other chemicals that build tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and the fluid that surrounds joints. Joints are cushioned and supported by the fluid and cartilage around them. Taking glucosamine might increase the cartilage and fluid around joints to help prevent their breakdown. Applying the cream to a part of the body, like your knee, while you're sitting in a meeting will help with the lubrication of the joint. 


ARNICA

Arnica acts as an anti-inflammatory, which is important post-activity when you have a lot of blood flow, you have a lot of swelling, you have a lot of active pain sensors. When you have joints that are in duress due to physical activity, the arnica helps to decrease that inflammatory function and stimulate a rest and recovery aspect that you usually wouldn't get, at least not for another couple of hours after the activity. 

Oakland University Defensive End Marquise Greenwood squatting in GO Sleeves Knee Sleeves

Everyday Use for Every Body

Whether you are hiking during the day, you garden on the weekends, or you are a professional athlete, this applies to everyone. We are anatomically mostly the same, with slight differences in genetic structure and epigenetics, which are genetics developed based on your daily habits. The only main difference is the activity level that an average person, like myself, goes through versus a professional athlete, who endures much more stress on their body. 

A lot of the days for NFL players, they're sitting in meetings, doing the same exact thing that I am doing right now. I'm just sitting in front of the computer in a sedentary position, talking or listening throughout my day. That said, the recovery process for everybody is, again, no different than an NFL athlete. You still develop a lot of that wear and tear, those inflammation markers, joint stiffness, and the like. The difference is that you and I are not undergoing immense physical preparation, but we’re still doing damage to our bodies. What makes GO Sleeves a unique approach is it gives you the chance to reduce that wear and tear not just while you’re moving but also as you're just sitting. So when you do decide to get back into action, whatever that action might be, your body will be in a better position to support you. And you’ll be less likely to get hurt. That’s a win for everyone. 

Tom Zheng is a Ph.D. in human health, performance, and organizational leadership. He also holds Masters in Applied Exercise Science and Kinesiology. His 9 years as a Health and Sports Scientist are highlighted by tenure as the Performance Therapist for the San Francisco 49ers. 

He is the founder of Adapt Health and Performance – a venture committed to revolutionizing health and performance in the athletic sphere. He also serves as the Chairman for PlayersOnly Network, a platform aimed at helping athletes develop and monetize their brands, and as an Advisor for GO Sleeves, creators of the World’s Only Kinesiology Sleeves.