The use of compression clothing such as stretchable shorts and vests has been in vogue for some time now and is preferred by many athletes. Even sports enthusiasts, today invest in compression clothing but it must be noted that different people have different reasons for use of compression clothing. For example, one athlete may be concerned about saving himself from unnecessary injury while another may be more worried about his style quotient.
Whatever the reasons are, compression clothing serves all kinds of athletes. Early studies in this regard suggested that compression clothing actually has the power to help athletes avoid problems and conditions like venous thrombosis. This problem was taken care by compression clothing due to its property of channelizing the blood flow to the lower part of the body.
In the past few years, several studies have been conducted to find out how compression clothing can influence the final performance of an athlete and it has been found that in various sports, the use of compression clothing has enhanced performance levels. Though optimization of output has little to do with compression clothing directly, runners have been observed to resist tiredness more effectively while wearing compression clothing.
More recent studies have strived to find out how compression clothing affects the output of sprinters and it has been discovered that such clothing facilitates easier hip angle changes and enhances hip movement which results in more frequency of strides. The overall positive change resulting from wearing compression clothing is that the runners perform more effectively when the clothing keeps the body firm.
Apart from the advantages mentioned above, other researches have also proved the fact that athletes can actually recover faster wearing compression clothing. Elastic clothing also helps in greater lactate removal at any given point of time. In a certain study, a few untrained women were asked to wear a compression sleeve while undergoing strength training.
After the session it was inferred that women who wore compression clothing had suffered lesser swelling (caused due to the strain of the workout) compared to those who had not. Wearing compression clothing athletes, in general, suffer least muscle damage which means that they are rendered less susceptible to injuries.
Compression clothing also decreases oxygen costs by a considerable amount. Moreover, athletes using compression clothing are seen to perform better during exercise sessions since this type of clothing reduces the effect of humidity on their bodies.
Any kind of rigorous training exerts immense strain on athletes and each one is seen to respond differently to fatigue and injuries while each has his/her characteristic energy reserve. However strenuous a certain sport is, the area of focus should always be to restore the original metabolic balance to an athlete and see to it that the process of recovery begins as soon as the period of workout is over.
In such cases, compression clothing seems to be the most practical alternative of easy recovery after strenuous training or performance. It must be mentioned though, that recovery is accelerated only when compression clothing is combined with a different recovery method.