Heat dissipating upper body compression garment: Thermoregulatory, cardiovascular, and perceptual responses

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to determine the effects of an upper body compression garment (UBCG) on thermoregulatory responses during cycling in a controlled laboratory thermoneutral environment (~23°C). A secondary aim was to determine the cardiovascular and perceptual responses when wearing the garment.MethodsSixteen untrained participants (age: 21.3 ± 5.7 years; peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak): 50.88 ± 8.00 mL/min/kg; mean ± SD) performed 2 cycling trials in a thermoneutral environment (~23°C) wearing either UBCG or control (Con) garment. Testing consisted of a 5-min rest on a cycle ergometer, followed by 4 bouts of cycling for 14-min at ~50%VO2peak, with 1-min rest between each bout. At the end of these bouts there was 10-min of passive recovery. During the entire protocol rectal temperature (Trec), skin temperature (Tskin), mean body temperature (Tbody), and heat storage (HS) were measured. Heart rate (HR), VO2, pH, hematocrit (Hct), plasma electrolytes, weight loss (Wloss), and perceptual responses were also measured.ResultsThere were no significant differences between garments for Tskin, HS, HR, VO2, pH, Hct, plasma electrolyte concentration, Wloss, and perceptual responses during the trial. Trec did not differ between garment conditions during rest, exercise, or recovery although a greater reduction in Trec wearing UBCG (p = 0.01) was observed during recovery. Lower Tbody during recovery was found when wearing UBCG (36.82°C ± 0.30°C vs. 36.99°C ± 0.24°C).ConclusionWearing a UBCG did not benefit thermoregulatory, cardiovascular, and perceptual responses during exercise although it was found to lower Tbody during recovery, which suggests that it could be used as a recovery tool after exercise.

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

“…A small number of studies investigated other blood markers including glucose [64,89,93,119,120], blood pH [15,22,50,87,164,171], oxygen saturation of haemoglobin [12,15,50,93,167], and partial pressure of oxygen [12,15,50], with no effect of compression reported, with the exception of a positive effect in one study measuring oxygen saturation of haemoglobin [167]. For markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis two studies reported no effect [122,169], and one study [170] reported a positive effect on thrombin-antithrombin complex and plasminogen activator inhibitor with compression.…”

“…Future research should aim to identify the influence of when compression is applied (during or post-exercise), and the duration of use on blood and salivary markers. In addition, further research that investigates the effects of compression on markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis during travel in athletes may be beneficial [171].…”

“…Thirty-seven studies investigated cardiorespiratory outcomes related to compression garments (refer to Table S5 of the ESM). The majority of studies involved running (n = 23, 62%) [7,12,17,28,47,52,64,102,115,119,127,132,133,135,143,145,147,162,164,166,177,180,181] or cycling (n = 10, 27%) [5,22,100,109,123,165,171,178,183,185] as the primary form of exercise. However, activities relating to alpine skiing (i.e.…”

“…Additionally, there were a range of different tests that were used to induce changes in cardiorespiratory responses whilst wearing compression garments. These involved tests to exhaustion (n = 7, 19%) [12,28,132,133,135,165,181], tests that were sub-maximal (n = 15, 41%) [7,35,52,64,119,143,145,147,162,164,171,178,180,183,185], and distance or time trials (n = 9, 24%) [15,17,22,47,102,108,115,123,127]. Furthermore, six studies [5,49,100,109,166,177] used a combination of tests (e.g.…”

“…Of the 37 studies that investigated the effects of cardiorespiratory responses when wearing compression garments, 29 demonstrated non-significant or trivial responses [5,7,12,15,17,22,28,35,47,49,64,100,102,108,109,115,119,123,127,135,143,147,162,165,171,178,180,181,183], two potentially negative outcomes [166,185], while six studies [52,132,133,145,164,177] suggested positive improvements. From these six studies, it was demonstrated that improved running economy may occur at low submaximal intensities (e.g.…”