Do Compression Garments Help Muscle Recovery After Exercise?

New analysis suggests reconsidering compression garments as a means of reducing the harmful effects of physical exercise on muscle strength and seeking alternative methods.

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.

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‘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.

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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.

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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.

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Source-Medindia