Can Compression Garments Enhance Muscle Strength and Power Recovery After Exercise?
- Julian Simpson
- May 19
- 3 min read
Can Compression Garments Enhance Muscle Strength and Power Recovery After Exercise?
Exercise-induced muscle fatigue refers to a temporary, reversible decrease in muscle contraction force following sustained muscular activity
It has been shown that exercise-induced muscle fatigue can detract from athletes’ sports performance , including muscle strength and power.
Why do people wear compression garments?
athletes frequently utilise compression garments to minimize the development of exercise-induced muscle fatigue during or after various training and competition sessions. Wearing compression garments during or after exercise can improve venous return flow, thereby reducing muscle fatigue, and enhancing muscle recovery
How do compression garments work?
Compression garments enhance muscle pump function, thereby improving venous return and blood circulation within the muscles
Facilitates more efficient oxygen utilisation to muscles
Garments have been shown to reduce muscle swelling, alleviate soreness, and attenuate the inflammatory response following exercise
Wearing compression garments during physical activity helps stabilise the muscles and surrounding tissues, minimizing excessive movement and enhancing movement efficiency
The differences between wearing compression garments in the upper body VS the lower body
lower limb compression garments significantly mitigated the decline in muscle strength after exercise-induced muscle fatigue, whereas upper limb compression garments did not yield a significant recovery effect
wearing lower limb compression garments for 4 h after completing lower body eccentric resistance training significantly improved the recovery effects
How long do the effects of compression garments last?
Compression garments significantly mitigated the decline in muscle strength, during rest intervals of 1–24 h for trained individuals and over 72 h for both trained and untrained individuals, after exercise-induced muscle fatigue
What are the Effects of Compression Garments on Power After Exercise-Induced Muscle Fatigue
compression garments significantly mitigated the decline in power after exercise-induced muscle fatigue
The potential reasons are that (a) compression garments can alleviate the inflammatory response in muscles during exercise-induced muscle fatigue , thereby reducing post-exercise muscle soreness ; (b) compression garments immobilize subcutaneous tissues, including muscles, during exercise-induced muscle fatigue, minimizing muscle sway and enhancing neural inputs during recovery ; (c) wearing compression garments can increase or maintain body surface temperature compared to regular sportswear, and maintaining body temperature facilitates higher muscle power output during exercise ; and (d) compression garments activate proprioception in the limbs through pressure, improving athletic performance
For more information about how we can help YOU with your pain and improve your underlying dysfunction so the problem doesn’t come back .
Please call Health Wise Chiropractic 03 9467 7889 or book online to see one of our Chiropractors in Sunbury or Melton/Strathtulloh Today!
We are also really proud to offer our patients an APP for their Mobile- iPad. With access to your rehab exercises and our health tip blogs with over 600 articles.
Chiropractic has moved online. We offer our online program -STAND CORRECTED- To help you through the day.
We have over 30 programs on different health conditions
Each program contains
- Information about the conditions
- things to do and things to avoid
- nutrition advice
- all the stretches that are needed to help
Li X, Su H, Du L, Li G, Lv Y, Liu X, Feng L, Yu L. Effects of Compression Garments on Muscle Strength and Power Recovery Post-Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Life (Basel). 2025 Mar 11;15(3):438. doi: 10.3390/life15030438. PMID: 40141783; PMCID: PMC11944185.