Custom-Fitted Compression Garments Enhance Recovery From Muscle Damage in Rugby Players

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of custom fitted compression garments (CG) on recovery from muscle damage in rugby players. METHODS: Forty-five players were tested for lower body strength, power, and indices of muscle-damage before completing a damaging protocol (20 x 20 m sprints with 5 m deceleration, 100 drop-jumps). Players were randomly assigned to wear either custom fitted (CF, n = 13), or standard sized CG (SSG, n = 16), or to received sham ultrasound therapy (CON, n = 16) immediately post-exercise. Players were re-tested immediately, then after 24 h and 48 h. RESULTS:Strength recovery was significantly different between groups (F = 2.7, p = 0.02), with only CF recovering to baseline values by 48 h (p = 0.973). Time x condition effects were also apparent for creatine kinase activity (χ 2 = 30.4, p < 0.001) and mid-thigh girth (F = 3.7, p = 0.005), with faster recovery apparent in CF compared to both CON and SSG (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Custom fitted CG improved strength recovery and indices of muscle damage in rugby players, compared to controls and standard sized garments. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Athletes and coaches would be advised to use appropriately fitted CG to enhance strength recovery following damaging exercise.

Putting the Squeeze on Compression Garments: Current Evidence and Recommendations for Future Research: A Systematic Scoping Review

“…One-hundred and fifteen studies investigated the effects of compression garments on exercise performance and/or muscle function outcomes (Table S1 The vast majority of studies reported no ergogenic effect of compression on jump [7,10,29,33,34,38,44,51,56,64,65,70,71,79,80,[88][89][90][92][93][94][95][96][97][98], time trial/race [36,56,95,[99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112], sprint [10, 34, 38-40, 44, 50, 70, 71, 87-89, 92, 96, 97, 113-116], or agility [10,38,44,88] performance.…”

“…The most commonly used markers of muscle function were isometric [4,11,27,34,45, and isokinetic [40,41,54,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87] muscle strength. Despite this, the effects of compression on these strength markers are unclear, as a large number of studies reported either a beneficial effect [4,27,34,41,45,[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][82][83][84][85][86] or no effect [11, 40, 51-65, 74-81, 87]. Research investigating the effects of compression on ballistic movements is scarce, with reports of a beneficial effect on bench throw [90], but no effect on bench press barbell velocity [57] or plyometric bounds [87].…”

“…Twenty-five studies have investigated the effect of compression on muscle swelling and other measures of non-blood marker muscle damage (Table S6 of the ESM). The most common measures investigated were changes in muscle circumference, thickness or volume (n = 20, 80%), with no effect of compression reported in 13 studies [38,43,62,64,66,77,80,88,95,120,150,163,187], five studies [71,84,97,110,122] reporting positive effects and two studies [90,111] demonstrating conflicting outcomes when using compression garments. No studies reported negative effects on muscle circumference or volume.…”

In-Season Nutrition Strategies and Recovery Modalities to Enhance Recovery for Basketball Players: A Narrative Review

“…Also, the external pressure may reduce the space available for swelling to occur, attenuating the inflammatory response and preventing further muscle damage [75]. Compression-induced reductions in muscle damage can serve to enhance subsequent performance [76][77][78] and limit perceptions of muscle soreness and fatigue [79,80]. The effects of CG use for recovery from basketball are equivocal, with only a limited number of studies available [40,41,72].…”

“…The effects of CG use for recovery from basketball are equivocal, with only a limited number of studies available [40,41,72]. However, given basketball places stress on the lower body through running and jumping activities, inferences could be made from research investigating the influence of CG on recovery measures (e.g., muscle damage, performance, psychological) involving similar lower-body activities [77,[80][81][82].…”