Compression Socks and Functional Recovery Following Marathon Running

Abstract

Compression socks have become a popular recovery aid for distance running athletes. Although some physiological markers have been shown to be influenced by wearing these garments, scant evidence exists on their effects on functional recovery. This research aims to shed light onto whether the wearing of compression socks for 48 hours after marathon running can improve functional recovery, as measured by a timed treadmill test to exhaustion 14 days following marathon running. Athletes (n = 33, age, 38.5 ± 7.2 years) participating in the 2012 Melbourne, 2013 Canberra, or 2013 Gold Coast marathons were recruited and randomized into the compression sock or placebo group. A graded treadmill test to exhaustion was performed 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after each marathon. Time to exhaustion, average and maximum heart rates were recorded. Participants were asked to wear their socks for 48 hours immediately after completion of the marathon. The change in treadmill times (seconds) was recorded for each participant. Thirty-three participants completed the treadmill protocols. In the compression group, average treadmill run to exhaustion time 2 weeks after the marathon increased by 2.6% (52 ± 103 seconds). In the placebo group, run to exhaustion time decreased by 3.4% (-62 ± 130 seconds), P = 0.009. This shows a significant beneficial effect of compression socks on recovery compared with placebo. The wearing of below-knee compression socks for 48 hours after marathon running has been shown to improve functional recovery as measured by a graduated treadmill test to exhaustion 2 weeks after the event.

Is There Evidence that Runners can Benefit from Wearing Compression Clothing?

“…Runners at various levels of performance and specializing in different events (from 800 m to marathons) wear socks, sleeves, shorts, and/or tights with compression to improve their performance [1][2][3] and facilitate recovery [4,5]. To date, the effects of compression clothing have been examined with a variety of running protocols, including short-term submaximal treadmill running [6][7][8][9][10][11], incremental treadmill tests to exhaustion [12][13][14][15][16][17], 10-km races [1], time to exhaustion at the pace used during a 10-km race [18], and 10-km submaximal running [14].…”

Recovery of Physiological Variables and Performance and the Relationship between Training load and Psychological State for a Recreational Runner during Marathon Season: a Case Study*

“…Recovery is deˆned as the ability to meet or exceed pre-performance levels in a particular activity (Bishop et al, 2008). Armstrong et al (2015) stated that Vmax, which is closely related to marathon time, is an excellent indicator of recovery following a marathon race. Saunders et al (2010) conducted four treadmill tests within 17 weeks for 34 runners with slightly inferior performance to the performance of the runner in our study (average value of Vmax: 19.0 km/h) and reported that the variation of Vmax was 2.5z.…”

“…In previous studies investigating recovery after running a marathon, maximal velocity (Vmax) or time to exhaustion during a treadmill running test have been used as performance variables (Armstrong et al, 2015;Hottenrott et al, 2016;Takayama et al, 2016aTakayama et al, , 2017aTakayama et al, , 2017bZouhal et al, 2006) based on the signiˆcant correlation between marathon race time and these two measures (Noakes et al, 1990). Physiological variables having a signiˆcant correlation with marathon race time, such as maximal oxygen uptake ( _VO 2 max), anaerobic threshold (AT), and running economy (RE), have also been used as performance variables (Hottenrott et al, 2016;Kyr äol äainen et al, 2000;Takayama et al, 2016aTakayama et al, , 2017aTakayama et al, , 2017bZouhal et al, 2006).…”

Fisioterapia Y Su Rol en El Alto Rendimiento: Una Revisión Sistemática De La Literatura

“…De igual manera, existen otros métodos como los medios de compresión estos pueden usarse a través de ropa y medios neumáticos, estos medios han demostrado índices significativos de disminución del dolor muscular, fatiga muscular, marcadores bioquímicos como la creatina quinasa y la proteína C reactiva relacionadas con el sobrentrenamiento y fatiga muscular (49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55). La liberación miofascial se ha utilizado como un medio de recuperación en alto rendimiento, esta se realiza con ayuda de rollos terapéuticos con diferentes densidades para realizar un masaje sobre la zona para liberar el tejido adherido (56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61).…”