Do Compression Garments Help Muscle Recovery After Exercise?

Wearing a compression garment during or after training does not facilitate muscle recovery, suggests meta-analysis evidence published in Sports Medicine.

Compression garments are elastic cloth fittings that people wear on their arms, legs, or hips during or after physical exercise. Their use has gained popularity over the last few decades because they are thought to enhance muscle recovery following exercise.

What Research Actually Tells About Compression Garment

An international research team at the Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, performed a systematic review to assess whether compression garments assist with muscle recovery.

Workout Pain - Good Pain, Bad Pain, Tips to Cope
Whether you’re getting prepped for a marathon or a fitness enthusiast, physical activity is essential. Workout pain is often unavoidable but it is important to recognize the type of pain.

‘Individual studies and meta-analyses show contrasting results about the use of compression garments in muscle recovery after exercise, which makes everyone rethink the decision.’

Systematic reviews identify and synthesize data from all relevant studies, and sit at the highest level on the evidence-based medicine pyramid. The researcher’s review used a generic inverse variance model, which adjusts the weight of individual studies according to sample size, to more accurately assess the effects of compression garments than previous meta-analyses.

"Even data from our previous study supported the idea that such garments have the potential to reduce strength loss after a strenuous workout," said Dr. János Négyesi.

However, when we synthesized the data of all relevant studies, we found no effect of compression garments on strength recovery — even when factoring in exercise type and when and where the compression garment is applied.

Moderate Muscle Strength may Lower Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Even a small amount of moderate resistance exercise may help prevent type 2 diabetes by improving muscle strength, finds a new study.

The authors think that this is a perfect example of contradictory outcomes from individual studies and meta-analytical evidence.

Therefore, scientists should be careful when drawing direct conclusions from the results of their studies. Rather, meta-analyses using the most appropriate models can provide more precise and reliable results.

Ergonomic Tips for Working at Home During COVID-19 Lockdown
Sitting at the desk for a long time during COVID-19 lockdown weakens and tightens muscles, stiffening the back, shoulders and neck. Here are a few tips as to how you can work from home comfortably.

Overall, practitioners, athletes, coaches, and therapists should reconsider compression garments as a means of reducing the harmful effects of physical exercise on muscle strength and seek alternative methods.

Do Genes Play a Role in How You Respond to Exercise?
Why people who exercise improve at different rates? A new study says that it is because of their genes. Read on to find out more about how your genes influence your exercise outcomes.

Source-Medindia