Under Pressure: Compression Clothing Analysed

Go to any triathlon or running event and I guarantee you’ll see a fair few competitors wearing at least one piece of compression clothing. Whether the rather fetching calf length socks popularised by Paula Radcliffe, the super hero esque tops or tights that leave very little to the imagination, the trend has definitely caught on. After the race, even more people will be squeezing into their super tight tights and travelling home looking like extras from an Errol Flynn film.

The earliest manifestation of compression clothing was in a clinical environment. Post-op, patients wearing tights or socks were found to have improved blood flow and a reduced risk of venous thrombosis (blood clots). In more recent times, this ability to help prevent clots has been used to manufacturer in-flight socks that help lower the risk of deep vein thrombosis during long haul travel.

In a sporting context, the number and type of studies so far conducted are still a bit thin on the ground but in general do seem to indicate some positive and interesting findings.

Performance

Can compression clothing make you jump higher, run faster or, for long days on the hill or crag, keep you going for that little bit longer? Early work concentrated on possible benefits to athletes involved in explosive disciplines such as jumping and sprinting. While the evidence for gains in maximal performance was limited there definitely seemed to be a reduction in fatigue during a series of leaps or sprints. Possible reasons for this included increased proprioception (your body’s awareness of where its parts are and what they’re doing) and a reduction in tiring muscle oscillations on impact. It seemed to make sense therefore that there might be a benefit to sub-maximal activities such as distance running and indeed there did appear to be a reduction in the energy cost of running at certain speeds. Again, improved proprioception and therefore more efficient technique is a possible explanation for this. Reduced muscular oscillation was potentially touted as promoting more efficient neurotransmission and muscular mechanics at a cellular level. Also, it’s possible that supporting the muscles in the direction of contraction may aid them and there does appear to be evidence for improved dispersal of blood lactate and other metabolites. From my own tests there is no doubt that running and riding in the tights feels good and there does seem to be a better sense of muscular awareness and less wobbling (muscle oscillation!).

Injury Prevention

This is a notoriously hard area to study as the still open debate on stretching bears testament to. The main problem is you’re waiting for a totally unpredictable event to occur that can be caused by any number of variables totally unrelated to the one you’re actually studying. Placing athletes in a study where they’d be put in artificially created injurious situations wouldn’t attract many volunteers and would definitely struggle to get ethical approval. It may seem intuitive to think that if a muscle is supported it is less likely to be injured but this is not necessarily backed up by research. Although they feel tight, the degree of compression in commercially available compression clothing is relatively low. This in many ways is a good thing as, if the squeeze was too much, it’d actually provide resistance to the muscles and make movement more difficult. Thankfully, there has been a study that has demonstrated that regular compression clothing doesn’t negatively affect performance in this way! With regards to actual injury prevention though the research just hasn’t really been done. There are suggestions that compression may aid the eccentric action of the hamstrings during the recovery phase of a running stride, reduce muscle damage and you’d think that better proprioception and reduced fatigue would protect you but this hasn’t been thoroughly tested yet. I haven’t been injured when wearing my tights and I do seem to feel an old re-current niggle less but, the jury’s still out on this one.

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