Compresion Leg Sleeves… like <> no like ?

Compression sleeves improve your performance by increasing circulation to your muscles. It's a slight gain, but a gain nonetheless. There's actually a lot of debate on whether it does anything for muscle recovery, though. The verdict is still out.

I use compression sleeves when I need performance, like during a run or a fast-and-light overnighter. For casual hiking, though, the benefit doesn't outweigh the cost of compressing my leg hair… ouch.

I would look at compression sleeves as a great item for competition, adventure racing, marathons, trail runs… stuff when you'll be pushing your VO2 Max and beating yourself up. If you're just going backpacking with a friend, don't bother.

> The Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves are made for athletes and make use of graduated
> compression to increase blood flow, aid in recovery and improve performance.

Known scam, marketing spin.
'Compression' does not increase the blood flow for an athlete; it decreases it. It does not aid in recovery, it slows the removal of lactic acid from the muscles. It does not improve performance – why should it?

The whole compression tights thing is built around one small bit of medical research which suggested that tights might help someone who has defective valves in their veins. In reality, all you are doing is putting a distributed tourniquet around your legs. That slows the circulation of blood through your legs.

Come in sucker.

Cheers

Roger, are you sure? I'm surprised; I've got a vein issue in my foot that has nothing to do with valves. My surgeon, an expert in cardiovascular surgeries, recommended compression calf sleeves as a way to promote circulation in my foot.

On top of that, there are thousands of professional athletes using them. There's millions of dollars in R+D for getting a competitive edge out of skiing, football, basketball, soccer, and olympic sports and the signs seem to be pointing to the general acceptance of compression as a boost to muscle performance.

So…

Not that I would ever doubt you- you're always right.

WHY are you right this time? Do you happen to have more in-depth info here?

As someone with a cavernous veinous malformation in my foot that affects my backpacking, i'm really curious.

"There's millions of dollars in R+D for getting a competitive edge out of skiing, football, basketball, soccer, and olympic sports and the signs seem to be pointing to the general acceptance of compression as a boost to muscle performance."

It's the same thing with arch support and heel rise.

How does this happen?

I don't know about you're personal situation, but I was looking into compression tights, and the little bit or research I did, backs up what Roger said. Also when I hurt my knee the doctor gave me a compression splint to support it. He also warned me not to wear it for an extended period of time. Granted, the one he gave me was probably a bit small, but when I wore it for more than an hour or two it would cut off the circulation to my lower leg. And it basically is a tourniquet.

How does compression increase circulation?

I have no idea or opinion on what the benefits may/may not be for athletes using compression, but for my elderly father who wore compression stockings when his veins were not returning blood and lymph fluid, causing swelling in his calves and ankles, they restricted the amount of fluid that pooled there, but did not restrict the arteries which lie deeper below the skin. At least that is the mechanism as it was explained to us.

A tourniquet is used when drawing blood, to prevent venous blood flow out of the limb. A tighter tourniquet is used to prevent arterial bleeding. Compression stockings, properly fitted, should do neither.

I would never wear them because I don't like clothing tight, esp. compression tight.

For what it's worth, not all clothing labeled as "compression" actually compresses. It's become a marketing word. I have a pair of running tights from golite that were labeled as "compression" but they don't squeeze my muscles at all. Just tight fitting and stretchy (not skin grabbing, muscle strangling tight like real compression stuff). I've worn them as long underwear many nights.

I mostly haven’t used compression clothing backpacking, but I have experimented with compression clothing for long runs, cycling, duo/tri training/events. My antidotal experience is that I didn’t see a performance improvement (e.g. times no faster), though the level of discomfort / tiredness at the end of an event seems better. The next day muscle recovery seemed the same or maybe a bit slower.

As was observed by Justin, “compression” is a popular buzz word. I have some tri-shorts (zoot) which really are compression shorts. I also have some other “compression” shorts (nike core compression) which are stretchy, close fitting, but aren’t squeezing me like classic compression shorts. I have found the closely fitting version of compression clothing useful backpacking. I found the nike shorts (and previously a pair of ex officio boxer briefs which were a size too small) significantly decrees chaffing between my legs and between my rear’s cheeks than anything else I tried.

An article which includes references to some of the studies about compression
http://beta.active.com/running/articles/does-compression-wear-really-work

–mark

Hi Max

> As someone with a cavernous veinous malformation in my foot that affects my
> backpacking, i'm really curious.

Pretty sure. I spent some time chasing down published medical research papers on the subject some time ago. They were unanimous in their refutation of the marketing claims.

If you have a problem with either the valves in the vein or with the veins just stretching too much, then a compression bandage may prevent blood from pooling in that area. This may then help the pressure waves (heart pulses) in the artery push the blood through the damged region to where it can be picked up by valves further along the veins. But please note: this is for a serious medical condition such as you cited and DK mentioned, not for enhancing athletic perfomance. There's a huge difference.

> On top of that, there are thousands of professional athletes using them.
> the signs seem to be pointing to the general acceptance of compression as a boost
> to muscle performance.
Rubbish. Total rubbish.

There may be thousands of endorsements from professional athletes, but those endorsements are paid for. Big name athletes have a marketing manager who signs the contracts for them. I would not be surprised if the deal is done before the athlete even hears about the deal. That's what being a pro sportsman is all about these days: making a living from the endorsements. Big money too.

All one has to do is stop and think. Why would putting a soft tourniquet around your leg do anything other than limit the flow of blood? How can that be good for performance?

Cheers

Time for a real medical opinion- mine. Roger is correct.

OTOH an awful lot of swimming records fell when all the swimmers started wearing compression tights. (One reason they were talking about outlawing them- I forget if they ever did.)

Just sayin'. I don't really have a dog in this fight, since I couldn't care less.

The sudden drop in swimming times had nothing to do with compression causing better performance. It had to do with improved streamlining of the athletes in the water because of the fabric. Boundary layers and all that fun fluid dynamics stuff was the cause.

My personal experience is that compression tires me out. Bicycing in tight pants, for example, results in fatigued legs very quickly……for me.

I hope not to offend anyone with this. I'll try to avoid any personal attacks.

Very strong compression does increase strength. Have a look at the difference between compression (equipped) and no compression (raw) in the Australian Powerlifting records. Link at end.
This is several orders of magnitude above Skins though, enough to bruise and cut off circulation.

I thought skins were theorised to work by increasing the temperature of the muscle and shifting the haemoglobin-oxygen dissociation curve to the right.

—-10min later

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I found a decent meta-analysis. Summary: Large potential bias and little to no blinding. It is possible that compression garments decrease DOMS perception and decrease recovery time. The article is behind a BMJ paywall. Link at end.

—-links

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Compression:
http://www.powerliftingaustralia.com/Records/MenNatEquRecords160913.htm
No compression:
http://www.powerliftingaustralia.com/Records/AusMensRaw160913.htm
Compression garment meta-analysis:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2013/06/10/bjsports-2013-092456.abstract

I had a run in with a black widow. The bite cause a fever that sent me to the hospital. Leg swelled up came out with cellulitis. I wore a compression stocking for two and a half years. My infectious disease doctor said if I did not wear it religiously I would have a gigantic leg. When I hike I wear a compression socks to keep from fluid pooling in my feet. I stop every two hours and elevate my legs above my heart for twenty minutes. If I don't my feet swell and the bones in my feet rub together. It feels like walking on fire while having nails driven into my burning feet. I have been using smart wool compression socks and the help. I look for a slight slope and put my legs uphill to help alleviate the swelling overnight if I can. I wish I could come up with a better method to keep swelling down. I am going to ask my doctor if I take water pills while hiking could help.