A Just Ask Tante Pia column
By Pia Johansson
A lot of runners, including yours truly, wear some sort of compression wear during a run. The question is, does it improve anything?
Compression clothing is made to be extra tight and graded in tightness to increase blood and lymphatic flow. Now, we know they work in that respect, as anyone who has worn them during a long flight knows they make an enormous difference in how swollen your feet and legs become. The same during pregnancy; some women are prescribed very tight compression socks to help with the pregnancy-induced swelling in their legs. But I am more interested in whether this actually translates into some type of running benefit, such as increased performance, increased recovery, or decreased injury rate.
The author practices what she preaches.
When it comes to performance, several smaller studies have shown that there is no increase in performance wearing compression wear̓ (e.g. 1, 2). One of these studies was based on two x10km time trials, one with, and one without compression clothing. There was no effect on time. But I also looked into a meta-analysis (where data were combined from 23 different studies, thereby increasing the power of the outcomes), and they also found almost no effect on performance, except on next day cycling performance (4). Another study, focused specifically on runners, found that compression clothing seems to increase some aspects of performance in relation to endurance, such as the (not unimportant) time to exhaustion (5).
In terms of recovery, we see a different story. One study measured the blood flow and lactic acid build up, and found no difference during the exercise (2) but an increase in normalization of lactate levels afterwards if the socks were worn then. In another study, thirteen of fourteen runners reported decreased DOMs (delayed muscle soreness) one day after a 10k time-trial. The meta-analysis showed less dramatic improvements, but found some as well, with strength recovery showing the greatest benefits. The previously mentioned study focused on runners showed a significant decrease in muscle damage, soreness, and inflammation. This increased recovery is attributed to the increased blood-flow, which then enhances cellular regeneration. This makes sense when paired with the finding that recovery is mostly improved after strength work-outs, as that’s when you normally sustain the most tissue damage. Importantly, this increased recovery is seen when the compression garments are worn after injury.
When it comes to compression clothing for injury prevention or as an injury recovery aid, I found almost no information. One study showed that graded compression shorts helped put less strain on the hip adductors, which might be helpful in recovery from groin injuries (6).
In conclusion, compression clothing doesn’t make much of a difference for short-term performance, but possibly for endurance. They do make quite a big difference in recovery from exercise if they are worn post-exercise. Interestingly, some (3) suggest that one should not wear them at all during exercise (as this might decrease stress, and stress adaptation is crucial for increased long-term performance).
Personally, I almost always wear compression socks when running. I do this for three reasons: they feel nice when I run, I believe my calf and tendons get less tight afterwards, and it protects me from yucky bugs when I am wearing short tights. But after researching for this post, I might have a few short runs without them (unless I start to hurt, of course), and start wearing them after runs as well.
References:
1. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25(4), 413-419, (2007).
2. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, May 2009 Volume 41, issue 5
3. https://www.active.com/running/articles/does-compression-wear-really-work
4. Sports Med 47, 2245–2267 (2017).
5. Sports Med (2016) 46:1939–1952
6. J Sports Sci 2014;32(14):1333-40.
Pia Johansson
Pia is a research scientist in neurobiology, mother of two and working mum. She was an expat for almost twenty years, in Australia and Munich and a short wild stint in Dublin many many years ago. She is in the throes of being repatriated to Sweden with her Australian husband. She likes talking, running and talking about running. And chocolate (although mostly 85% these days, as crazy as that sounds). In addition to staying fit and eating healthy, and raising happy healthy children, she dreams of doing something a little bit creative like writing or becoming a photographer. Or at least organizing her photos soon.