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Compression sportswear is widely used for enhancing exercise performances, facilitating recovery, and preventing injuries. Despite prior findings that confirmed positive effects on physical recovery after exercises, whether compression sportswear can enhance exercise performances has not been determined. Thus, this systematic meta-analysis examined the effects of compression sportswear on exercise performances including speed, endurance, strength and power, functional motor performance, and sport-related performance. We calculated effect sizes by comparing changes in exercise performances between the compression garment and the control group. Two additional moderator variable analyses determined whether altered exercise performances were different based on the types of participants and compression sportswear. For the total 769 participants from 42 included studies, the random-effect model found that compression sportswear significantly improved speed, endurance, and functional motor performances. Additional moderator variable analyses identified significant positive effects on speed for athletes, and endurance and functional motor performance for moderately trained adults. Further, whole-body compression garments were beneficial for improving speed, and lower-body compression garments effectively advanced endurance performances. For functional motor performances, both upper- and lower-body suits were effective. These findings suggest that wearing compression sportswear may be a viable strategy to enhance overall exercise performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two popular chronic stroke rehabilitation protocols are robotic-assisted movements and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Separately, both protocols have produced encouraging motor recovery improvements. An intriguing question remains: what happens to motor recovery when both protocols are administered together? Do the two protocols together produce additive dual effects? This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the dual effect of combining robotic training and tDCS. We investigated the potential effects of tDCS protocols in addition to robotic-training programs on motor recovery of the upper and lower extremities post-stroke. A systematic literature search identified 20 qualified studies that used robotic training combined with tDCS protocols for upper limb (i.e., 15 studies) and lower limb (i.e., 5 studies) post-stroke rehabilitation. Individuals in the subacute and chronic stages of recovery were investigated. The 20 included studies compared additive effects of the combined protocols with robotic training sham control groups. Further, we estimated short-term and long-term treatment effects of the combined protocols. The random-effects model meta-analyses failed to find any significant short-term and long-term motor improvements in the upper extremities after the combined treatments. However, robotic-assisted movements combined with tDCS protocols revealed significant moderate transient and sustained improvements in functions of the lower limbs post-stroke. These meta-analytic findings suggest clinical implications concerning coupled top-down and bottom-up training protocols (i.e., robotic training and tDCS combined), which will allow us to make progress toward post-stroke motor recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]