Just for running, do you really need compression socks?

In recent years, with the emergence of a large number of various running events, more and more professional equipment has become another sight in the marathon.

We often see all kinds of sexy running compression socks and compression leg sleeves appearing on the tracks of various large and small running events. Professional compression materials claim to "improve performance, relieve fatigue, and provide stronger protection"!

But in the eyes of many people, this may just be a decoration that shows off individuality.

 

Today CMAX will give answers to runners:

 

Compression equipment was originally used in the medical field to assist in the treatment of "bulging" related diseases such as lymphedema.

 

Doctors later discovered that it could play an auxiliary treatment role for diseases such as varicose veins, and could also prevent blood clots in patients who were bedridden after surgery.

 

Compression equipment works by providing positive pressure to the valves of blood vessels that flow in one direction.

 

The pressure difference between the ankles and knees can promote the return of blood to the heart and at the same time, to a certain extent, resist the influence of the earth's gravity on blood flow.

 

For people with limited mobility, the latter may lead to poor local blood flow.

 

For example, long-distance travelers who frequently fly are advised to wear compression stockings during flights to prevent the formation of blood clots in deep blood vessels.

 

Can improve running performanceCompression leg sleeves increase blood circulation by applying pressure to the calf muscles, providing more oxygen to the muscles.

 

This allows oxygen and energy substances to enter the muscles faster, improves exercise performance, and allows you to go all out for longer.

Faster blood flow also helps to process lactic acid, other metabolic waste products, and carbon dioxide out of the muscles faster, which keeps you more efficient for longer.

 

In theory, this would help increase energy production efficiency and make runners faster.

 

It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t run much, it’s unrealistic to expect that you can finish a marathon wearing a pair of compression leg sleeves.

For mass runners with average abilities, compression socks have the effect of relieving fatigue or delaying the occurrence of fatigue. Delaying the occurrence of fatigue is equivalent to improving sports performance.

 

If an ordinary runner participates in a half marathon, he may start to experience fatigue symptoms such as muscle cramps after running 15 kilometers.

After 15 kilometers, he suddenly lost speed due to cramps. However, when running in compression leg sleeves, he might not lose speed until 18 kilometers due to fatigue cramps.

 

This means that he can run an additional 3 kilometers in better condition.

 

Stabilize calf muscles and reduce muscle pain

 

During running, the impact caused by the feet landing will cause muscle tremors, which is considered to be an important cause of muscle damage and delayed onset muscle soreness.

 

From a theoretical analysis, compression leg sleeves can reduce muscle tremors to a certain extent and relieve pain by giving muscle support.

 

Take the full marathon as an example

 

Each runner must run at least 30,000 steps to complete the race.

During this process, the impact force of each landing on the ground will cause the muscles to vibrate, and this vibration is an important cause of muscle damage and muscle fatigue.

 

The compression effect of compression socks reduces the shaking of calf muscles throughout running, which can reduce muscle fatigue to a certain extent.

 

At the same time, this external surrounding pressure also reduces the wearer's proprioception of pain, allowing the wearer to run more smoothly and naturally.

 

Accelerate fatigue recovery

 

Wearing compression leg sleeves after exercise can help remove metabolic waste by accelerating blood flow and introduce substances needed for muscle repair and reconstruction in a timely manner.

 

Researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK measured physical recovery and muscle soreness on days 1-4 after heavy-load strength training.

 

They found that after exercise, subjects who continued to wear 24-hour compression leg sleeves had significantly reduced subjective muscle soreness, indicating that compression leg sleeves can accelerate recovery and eliminate fatigue faster.

The short distance effect is not obvious

It seems that using compression leg sleeves for shorter distances, such as running within 10 kilometers, is not very useful, because the fatigue level of short-distance running is less.

That's according to a comprehensive study by the European University in Madrid, which recruited more than two dozen runners.

 

First, run five kilometers at a speed of 6, and then run as hard as you can for five kilometers after warming up. It was found that wearing compression socks has no statistically significant effect on running performance and efficiency.

 

The effect is obvious in the second half of the marathon

Many runners who have worn compression equipment for many marathons said that most people think that the effect of compression leg sleeves is not too obvious in the first half of the race.

 

However, in the second half of the race, you will obviously feel that the compression leg sleeves have a great fixation effect on the calf muscles.

 

As the distance increases and the posture remains unchanged during road running, it is easy to get tired. At this time, it is also obvious that compression equipment can provide certain auxiliary support.

 

Cross-country running has the most obvious effectIn the cross-country running field, compression leg sleeves and compression socks can also protect the skin and prevent the risk of being scratched by weeds and branches.

 

Since compression socks and compression leg sleeves are such professional long-distance running equipment, why do professional marathon runners rarely choose to wear them in competitions?

 

Basically for two reasons

 

First, professional marathon runners train and compete all year round. For them, the intensity of a full marathon has long been commonplace. It may be no different from their daily training intensity. There is no such thing as reducing soreness and fatigue to improve performance. .

Second, for performance-oriented professional runners, the weight-bearing and resistance brought by compression socks and leg sleeves are more helpful than the sports performance brought by wearing them. This is essentially different from participation-oriented amateur runners. .

 

For the vast majority of runners, compression leg sleeves have no significant improvement or effect on short-distance running performance.

 

But in long-distance road running and cross-country running, they have different protective and recovery effects.

 

For example, it can stabilize the calf muscles, reduce shaking, slow down the accumulation of lactic acid, give appropriate pressure to the legs, relieve fatigue, etc.

 

Of course, compression leg sleeves also have another function that is particularly favored by female runners, that is, wearing them makes the legs look slimmer.

For runners who love to run long distances, wearing a pair of compression leg sleeves while running is still a good choice.