Eur J Appl Physiol DOI 10.1007/s00421-010-1464-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Lower limb compression garment improves recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage in young, active females John R. Jakeman • Chris Byrne • Roger G. Eston
Accepted: 26 March 2010 Ó Springer-Verlag 2010
Abstract This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of lower limb compression as a recovery strategy following exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). Seventeen female volunteers completed 10 9 10 plyometric drop jumps from a 0.6-m box to induce muscle damage. Participants were randomly allocated to a passive recovery (n = 9) or a compression treatment (n = 8) group. Treatment group volunteers wore full leg compression stockings for 12 h immediately following damaging exercise. Passive recovery group participants had no intervention. Indirect indices of muscle damage (muscle soreness, creatine kinase activity, knee extensor concentric strength, and vertical jump performance) were assessed prior to and 1, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h following plyometric exercise. Plyometric exercise had a significant effect (p B 0.05) on all indices of muscle damage. The compression treatment reduced decrements in countermovement jump performance (passive recovery 88.1 ± 2.8% vs. treatment 95.2 ± 2.9% of pre-exercise), squat jump performance (82.3 ± 1.9% vs. 94.5 ± 2%), and knee extensor strength loss (81.6 ± 3% vs. 93 ± 3.2%), and reduced muscle soreness (4.0 ± 0.23 vs. 2.4 ± 0.24), but had no significant effect on creatine kinase activity. The results indicate that compression clothing is an effective recovery strategy following exercise-induced muscle damage. Keywords
Recovery DOMS Plyometric exercise
Communicated by William Kraemer. J. R. Jakeman (&) C. Byrne R. G. Eston School of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, St. Luke’s Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, Devon EX1 2LU, UK e-mail: J.R.Jakeman@ex.ac.uk
Introduction Unaccustomed or eccentrically biased physical activity can lead to exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), which is characterised by impaired muscle function (Jakeman et al. 2009; Miyama and Nosaka 2004), delayed-onset muscle soreness (Eston et al. 2007; Impellizzeri et al. 2008), increases in circulating myoproteins (Byrne et al. 2001; Chapman et al. 2006), decreased self-paced exercise performance (Marcora and Bosio 2007), and increased perceived exertion during exercise (Davies et al. 2009; Twist and Eston 2009). Enhanced recovery following physical activity and EIMD has become a priority for individuals involved in a wide range of athletic disciplines. Consequently, a number of post-exercise recovery strategies have been implemented, though often based on anecdotal and equivocal evidence. Several strategies to ameliorate the deleterious effects of EIMD focus on managing its symptoms following damaging exercise, with massage, cold water immersion therapy and active recovery all widely used methods in applied fields. Despite encouraging observations from such studies, their efficacy remains equivocal (Bailey et al. 2007; Farr et al. 2002; Gill et al. 2006; Jakeman et al. 2009; Mancinelli et al. 2006). The use of clothing with specific compressive qualities is becoming increasingly widespread, and studies have shown improved performance and recovery after EIMD (Ali et al. 2007; Kraemer et al. 2001; Trenell et al. 2006). The use of lower limb compression for athletes has been derived from research in clinical settings which has indicated positive effects of compression following trauma or some chronic diseases. Bringard et al. (2006a) observed positive effects of calf compression on calf muscle oxygenation and venous pooling in resting positions, whilst
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