diff --git a/test/manual/sstable_scan_footprint_test.cc b/test/manual/sstable_scan_footprint_test.cc
index 799350fa45..bcdaf83ed3 100644
--- a/test/manual/sstable_scan_footprint_test.cc
+++ b/test/manual/sstable_scan_footprint_test.cc
@@ -209,8 +209,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         ("with-compression", "Generates compressed sstables")
         ("reads", bpo::value<unsigned>()->default_value(100), "Total reads")
         ("read-concurrency", bpo::value<unsigned>()->default_value(1), "Concurrency of reads, the amount of reads to fire at once")
-        ("sstables", bpo::value<uint64_t>()->default_value(100), "")
-        ("sstable-size", bpo::value<uint64_t>()->default_value(10000000), "")
+        ("sstables", bpo::value<uint64_t>()->default_value(100), "Number of sstables to generate")
+        ("sstable-size", bpo::value<uint64_t>()->default_value(10000000), "Size of generated sstables")
         ("sstable-format", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value("md"), "Sstable format version to use during population")
         ("collect-stats", "Enable collecting statistics.")
         ("stats-file", bpo::value<sstring>()->default_value("stats.csv"), "Store statistics in the specified file.")