Compression Stockings Suppressed Reduced Muscle Blood Volume and Oxygenation Levels Induced by Persistent Sitting

Abstract

This study quantitatively analyzed the effects of 3 h of constant sitting on skeletal muscle oxygenation in the lower extremities, using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy (NIRTRS). The effects of compression stockings were also evaluated. Eleven healthy men (age, 30.0 ± 6.7 years) maintained their knee joints at 90° flexion during 3 h of constant sitting and wore a compression stocking on either the right or left leg. The side the stocking was worn was chosen randomly. Subsequently, leg circumference and extracellular water were measured. After 3 h of sitting, both factors increased significantly in uncompressed limbs. Furthermore, intracellular water and muscle oxygenation had significantly decreased. In contrast, extracellular water had not increased in the limbs wearing compression stockings. Furthermore, the increased circumference of compressed limbs was significantly smaller than that of uncompressed limbs. Decreases in oxygenated hemoglobin and total hemoglobin were significantly smaller in compressed limbs than in uncompressed limbs (oxy-Hb; p = 0.021, total-Hb; p = 0.013). Three hours of sitting resulted in decreased intracellular water and increased extracellular water in the lower extremities, leading to reduced blood volume and oxygenation levels in skeletal muscle. Compression stockings successfully suppressed these negative effects.

Effects of Prolonged Sitting with or without Elastic Garments on Limb Volume, Arterial Blood Flow, and Muscle Oxygenation

“…Another limitation of this study is that the thickness of the adipose tissue at the site of NIR TRS measurement was not determined. In another study, 20 Japanese healthy men with age, body mass index, and percent body fat similar to our participants showed on average an adipose tissue thickness of 0.19 cm (range, 0.11–0.30 cm) at the site of NIR TRS measurement (19). Therefore, we consider the adipose tissue thin enough for NIR TRS measurements with 3-cm optode separation.…”

“…Following the baseline measures, each subject wore an elastic garment (Elaction Pro®; Asahi Kasei Corp., Tokyo, Japan) on one randomly chosen leg from the inguinal region through the ankle joint, with the noncompressed contralateral leg as a control. The elastic garment used in this study was developed for athletes, and its compression pressure was designed as 3:4:3 (∼15:∼20:∼15 hPa) for ankle/calf/thigh ( 19 ). Of the nine study participants, four and five subjects wore an elastic garment on their right and left legs, respectively.…”

“…We assumed these effects were the premise for evaluating relationships among oxygen availability in peripheral tissues, water retention, and reduction of arterial blood flow in lower extremities due to prolonged sitting. We calculated the sample size using the G*Power software (Version 3.1; Bonn University, Bonn, Germany), based on our previous work evaluating the changes in [oxy-Hb] in calf muscles of men before and after 3-h uninterrupted sitting ( 19 ). Using an 80% power and 95% confidence level, nine participants were required to detect a significant change in [oxy-Hb] in calf muscles due to prolonged sitting (critical t = 1.833, P < 0.05).…”

Exploration of Clothing Pressure for Compression Pants Measuring Blood Flow and Velocity

“…The muscle oxygenation in the calf and thigh also showed a significant increase of 82.4 and 24.4%, respectively. In another study [37] on patients with peripheral artery disease, the 30-day wearing of a graduated compression product with clothing pressure of 8 and 18 mmHg on the ankle and the calf, respectively, was shown to improve the diseaseꞌs symptoms. These reports support the present study as they applied a higher level of clothing pressure at the calf than at the ankle.…”

Special Issue on New Horizons in Time Domain Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging

“…Ueda and Saeki applied TD DOS to three studies on breast cancer, reporting the detection rate of breast cancer, tumor hemodynamic responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and antiangiogenic therapy [16]. Kinoshita et al, who measured skeletal muscle oxygenation in the lower extremities during 3 h of continuous sitting, report that compression stockings suppress increases in extracellular water in the lower extremities, leading to reduced blood volume and oxygenation levels in skeletal muscles [17]. The study by Morimoto et al measured cerebral blood volume and optical properties in five term neonates from 2-3 min to 15 min after birth, and demonstrate that TD DOS can stably measure the cerebral hemodynamics of neonates in the labor room [18].…”