Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 63, October 2014 | Page 39

Compression
Progression

body science

Ma

If you’ve never used compression socks
before and remain unconvinced about
the benefits they could have for you,
read on! – BY SEAN FALCONER

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Images: Sean Falconer

ot so very long ago,
compression socks
were unheard of in
running circles, but
when some elite
athletes started
running in them,
notably women’s marathon world record holder
Paula Radcliffe, the craze soon spread. More
elites started wearing them, despite the fact
that they looked a bit funny, and nowadays
you’ll see them on the track, in road running,
trail running and triathlons, and even back of
the pack runners are wearing the skin-tight,
knee-length socks during runs, while still more
are wearing them after a run as well.
Some runners believe that compression socks
actually make them faster, but there is little
physical evidence to back that up, whereas
a growing body of research confirms that
compression wear offers real physiological
benefits, both during and after a run. Just
as a massage applies pressure to reduce
inflammation and soreness in muscles, similarly,
when compression gear is worn for a few
hours after a workout, it has been shown to
measurably reduce swelling and fatigue.

Compression socks work by promoting
bloodflow from the lower extremities using
gradiated compression – in other words, the
sock is tightest around your ankle and the rate
of compression slowly decreases further up
your calf. This promotes bloodflow back up to
the heart, where it is oxygenated and cleaned,
and then it can flow back to the tired muscles
and help them recover faster. Thus wearing the
socks after a run promotes faster healing, but
wearing them during a run speeds this process
up even more, and the added bonus is that
the socks reduce the amount of micro-damage
to your muscles by decreasing the amount of
shock and movement in the muscle every time
your foot lands. In other words, your muscles
can’t ‘jiggle’ as much, so they don’t suffer
as much damage. For that reason, wearing
compression tights on your quads is also highly
recommended for runners, especially if you
often suffer from stiff quads after a long run.

fractures, arthritis, varicose veins and other
conditions or procedures. Then somebody
smart asked if it would work for sportsmen
and women, and in 1987 the American Journal
Of Physical Medicine published a study by
two doctors called Michael J Berry and Robert
G McMurray, which revealed that athletes
wearing compression stockings recovered a lot
faster than athletes not wea ɥ