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The Loop

Stuff: Zap away your workout soreness

September 10, 2014

A key indicator of good health is how fast your body recovers from physical stress. If it's a cut on your arm, how fast does the wound heal? If your heart rate skyrockets during a run, how fast does it take to slow down to a normal rhythm?

In fitness circles, decreasing muscle fatigue and speeding up recovery time from delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) are signs that you're becoming more physically fit. Obviously, routine strength-and-mobility training will help. But there's also a product on the market that claims to do both using electric currents.

Marc Pro is a portable device that works by having you attach electrodes to various parts of your body and then stimulating those muscles with electric current from a portable, hand-held device (pictured below). The manufacturers say it decreases feelings of muscle fatigue and also increases blood flow, which accelerates the healing process from soreness. Two scientific studies back those claims. One was published in the Journal of Exercise Physiology in 2011 and the other in 2013.

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The good news for golfers is the device could be a godsend in dealing with chronic lower-back and leg soreness. In late spring, Michelle Wie tweeted a photo of her using it on her leg. The bad news is that Marc Pro isn't cheap. The current model is $650 (marcpro.com) and the company announced plans for an upgraded model to be available soon.

Ron Kaspriske is the fitness editor of Golf Digest. Follow @ronkaspriske