Enhanced Calf Muscle Oxygenation
March 17, 2009 by David OMeara
Filed under Running
Twelve sportsmen regularly involved in endurance training were measured wearing compression tights on their legs and compared to wearing simple elastic tights or shorts (no compression) in a study undertaken by The Faculty of Sports Science, University of Montpellier, France.
“They found that compression tights compared to elastic tights, have positive effects on calf muscle oxygenation and venous pooling in quiet resting positions.”
Wearing shorts with no compression had no positive effects on calf muscle oxygenation or venous pooling during resting periods.
This was hardly a surprise, as compression stockings have been the accepted treatment for venous conditions in hospitals for decades. In fact, SmoothToe Energizing Socks have been dispensed on the vascular ward at Mayo Clinic for over six years for all kinds of vascular insufficiencies. However, it had only been surmised that athletes would gain similar benefits by wearing Energizing Socks with graduated compression.
This was mainly due to the results that were being achieved with medical patients suffering from venous insufficiency, and from an earlier study of the effects of wearing graduated compression socks (GCS) on blood lactate following an exhaustive bout of exercise.
That study found that blood lactate values were significantly lower throughout the recovery period for those wearing graduated compression stockings during both the test and recovery periods, compared to test subjects wearing compression during the test period only or not wearing compression at all.
In fact, compared to not wearing compression at all, results of both experiments (wearing GCS during test and recovery & during test only) showed recovery lactate values to be significantly lower with the use of GCS.
Running faster is all about managing your recovery, so you can train harder and back up again the next day and go again. Nobody runs faster when they’re hurting.
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