Some hope for better performance while others value the advantage of a quicker recovery. In the medical field, the advantages are clear: compression stockings are an important component in the treatment of venous disorders. Compression provides external support to the muscle pump and blood vessels. This improves blood circulation, thereby enabling the muscle to be better supplied with blood. This effect can also be of benefit to athletes. In his book “Laufen!” (Running!), Dr. Lutz Aderhold discusses that “an increase in blood supply to the muscles” leads to improved performance. This manifests itself as “a lower subjective perception of stress, lower lactate values and improved running times.” Athletes are also debating the question of whether compression garments support exercise recovery. This has been investigated in a New Zealand study that was published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

Study participants: the New Zealand rugby team

In the study, compression tights were compared with those without a compressive effect. The participants in the study were the players in the New Zealand national rugby team. 22 trained professionals exerted themselves in a game. Afterwards they had to wear compression tights for 24 hours and then undergo a performance test. The aim of the test was to investigate the effect of the garment on exercise recovery. Every player had to repeat the process twice: once with a compression garment, and once with a similar looking garment without compression.

The Rugby players were told by the researchers that the aim of the study was to compare two different types of compression garments. The main exercises used to assess recovery were ten 40-metre sprints with a 30 second break between each of them, followed by a 3-kilometre timed run. A small difference was evident at the fifth, sixth and seventh 40-metre sprint. The players also completed the 3-kilometre run somewhat faster, by 2.0 +/- 1.9%, after wearing the compression garment. The compression garment therefore showed a slight advantage over the regular garment. The researchers came to the following scientific conclusion overall: wearing a compression garment during exercise recovery is “probably advantageous and very unlikely to be harmful.”