Comparison and testing of compression stockings for sport activities in the laboratory

Abstract

This work is about comparing and testing compression stockings and their influence on the human body. In this paper the basics of compression in the medical area as well as in the sportive field will be presented. The sportive compression works the same way like the compression therapy of the medicine area and has the same conditions for a healthy and correctly using. The sportswear with compression effect has an anatomically adjusted pressure profile, which based on a pair of pants, is most powerful at the ankle and decreases continuously up to the thigh. The closer one gets to the heart, the less pressure is required. There are many different types of socks for specific sport fields and it does not matter if it is an outdoor or indoor sport or for summer or winter. Five compression stockings were tested. In order to choose the right socks, a detailed inquiry about the currently available compression stockings on the market was conducted. The stockings were tested with several testing equipment existing in our facilities of the Center of Textile Sciences and Technology. The lab tests show that the stockings B and D has the best performance. The weakest in all test is stocking E. We can conclude that the compression effect of the stockings stabilizes the muscles and because of this the musculature isn´t so much stressed, increasing the recovery of the muscles.