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Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a common experience following unaccustomed eccentric exercise. DOMS and associated force deficits may limit optimal performance in subsequent days. The cause of DOMS remains poorly understood, thus there is no effective treatment. Graduated compression stockings (GCS) are a commonly used intervention believed to diminish DOMS. The purpose of this study was to determine if GCS after eccentric walking exercise minimizes DOMS and associated deficits (e.g. muscle force capacity). Eight healthy subjects (age 26±4 yrs, height 175±8 cm, weight 70±5 kg) volunteered to perform a single bout of backward downhill walking exercise (duration 30 min, velocity 1 m.s-1, negative grade-25%, load 12% of body weight). Following walking exercise, subjects were required to wear 5 hours per day for 3 consecutive days GSC (SupportivTM) on one leg while the second was used as control. Muscle soreness and neuromuscular measures (M-wave, peak twitch, maximal voluntary torque or MVT) were taken pre and postwalk, then 2, 24, 48 and 72 hours post-walking exercise for the two legs. There was a 28% reduction in DOMS 72 h after exercise when wearing GCS (P<0.05) than in the control leg. Immediately after exercise there was a 15% decrease in MVT of the plantar flexors in both legs partly attributable to an alteration in contractile properties (-22% in electrically evoked mechanical twitch). In leg wearing GCS, MVT starts to recover while the contractile properties had significantly recovered within 24 h but not in the control leg. In the current study, GCS might have had the effect of compressing the muscle tissue to such an extent that less structural damage occurred relative to a control condition. GCS accelerated the recovery of the muscle force capacity at 24 hours beyond that achieved by the control condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fitness and leisure sports, compression clothing (e.g. tights, garments, stockings) has become popular with the need to minimise the stress of activity by improving physiological factors. The area of contact between textile material and human skin represents a complex parameter in which factors such as the deformational behaviour of fibrous material under pressure, surface hardness, and surface roughness play interactive and dependent roles. The nature of human skin surface morphology and bulk properties add further complexity. Early researches on compressive garments focused on increased venous blood flow due to the compression and its positive effects on venous thrombosis in post-operative patients. In healthy subjects, the compression stockings have been shown to increase cardiac output and stroke volume, suggesting that the venous return with the stockings was larger than without it. To date, improving venous return without causing physiological disorders is a major objective for product designers in the leisure sport sector. The favourable effects of compression clothing on the muscle pumping action of the cardiovascular system have led scientists to speculate whether increases in venous return could assist in the removal of blood lactate from exercising muscles. Actually, most of the studies suggest a distinct performance advantage to wearing compression tights during local and global dynamic exercise. Besides, the increased microcirculation provided by compressive garments may prevent post-exercise damage and pain by reducing oedema and helping promote recovery post training and competition. Future garment construction and/or areas of the body targeted may need to reflect the specific biological mechanisms and demands of the sport for which it΄s intended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]