Compression garments and exercise: no influence of pressure applied.

Compression garments on the lower limbs are increasingly popular among athletes who wish to improve performance, reduce exercise-induced discomfort, and reduce the risk of injury. However, the beneficial effects of compression garments have not been clearly established. We performed a review of the literature for prospective, randomized, controlled studies, using quantified lower limb compression in order to (1) describe the beneficial effects that have been identified with compression garments, and in which conditions; and (2) investigate whether there is a relation between the pressure applied and the reported effects. The pressure delivered were measured either in laboratory conditions on garments identical to those used in the studies, or derived from publication data. Twenty three original articles were selected for inclusion in this review. The effects of wearing compression garments during exercise are controversial, as most studies failed to demonstrate a beneficial effect on immediate or performance recovery, or on delayed onset of muscle soreness. There was a trend towards a beneficial effect of compression garments worn during recovery, with performance recovery found to be improved in the five studies in which this was investigated, and delayed-onset muscle soreness was reportedly reduced in three of these five studies. There is no apparent relation between the effects of compression garments worn during or after exercise and the pressures applied, since beneficial effects were obtained with both low and high pressures. Wearing compression garments during recovery from exercise seems to be beneficial for performance recovery and delayed-onset muscle soreness, but the factors explaining this efficacy remain to be elucidated. Key pointsWe observed no relationship between the effects of compression and the pressures applied.The pressure applied at the level of the lower limb by compression garments destined for use by athletes varies widely between products.There are conflict results regarding the effects of wearing compression garments during exercise.There is a trend towards a beneficial effect of compression garments worn during recovery.

Dogmas and controversies in compression therapy: report of an International Compression Club (ICC) meeting, Brussels, May 2011.

The International Compression Club (ICC) is a partnership between academics, clinicians and industry focused upon understanding the role of compression in the management of different clinical conditions. The ICC meet regularly and from these meetings have produced a series of eight consensus publications upon topics ranging from evidence-based compression to compression trials for arm lymphoedema. All of the current consensus documents can be accessed on the ICC website (http://www.icc-compressionclub.com/index.php). In May 2011, the ICC met in Brussels during the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) annual conference. With almost 50 members in attendance, the day-long ICC meeting challenged a series of dogmas and myths that exist when considering compression therapies. In preparation for a discussion on beliefs surrounding compression, a forum was established on the ICC website where presenters were able to display a summary of their thoughts upon each dogma to be discussed during the meeting. Members of the ICC could then provide comments on each topic thereby widening the discussion to the entire membership of the ICC rather than simply those who were attending the EWMA conference. This article presents an extended report of the issues that were discussed, with each dogma covered in a separate section. The ICC discussed 12 'dogmas' with areas 1 through 7 dedicated to materials and application techniques used to apply compression with the remaining topics (8 through 12) related to the indications for using compression.

Limited value of temporal artery ultrasonography examinations for diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: analysis of 77 subjects.

OBJECTIVE: Use of TA-US for diagnostic investigation of giant cell arteritis (GCA) has been proposed but remains a matter of debate because of the heterogeneous findings. We retrospectively evaluated operating characteristics of temporal artery ultrasonography (TA-US) in a single teaching hospital. METHODS: All subjects with suspected GCA had been seen between 2002 and 2008 and had undergone TA-US with continuous-wave Doppler (until 2004) or color duplex ultrasonography (after 2004), followed within 30 days by a temporal artery biopsy (TAB). TA-US findings were compared with TAB-proven GCA and clinically diagnosed GCA. Results are expressed as sensitivities, specificities, and positive (LR+) and negative likelihood ratios (LR-) of stenoses, occlusions, and the halo sign; for the latter, only color duplex TA-US was considered. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients fulfilled the selection criteria; 13 had TAB-proven and 19 had clinically defined GCA. Stenoses/occlusions were seen on 45.5% of TA-US and the halo sign was seen only once (3.2%) in 31 duplex TA-US. Respective sensitivities, specificities, LR+, and LR- for GCA diagnosis (using TAB-proven/clinically defined GCA as reference standards) were 69%/53%, 59%/57%, 1.7/1.2, and 0.5/0.8 for stenoses and/or occlusions, and 17%/10%, 100%/100%, infinite/infinite, and 0.8/0.9 for the halo sign. CONCLUSION: The halo sign showed 100% specificity for GCA but only 10%-17% sensitivity. Stenoses/occlusions were of low diagnostic value. These observations suggest that TA-US is neither an effective substitute for TAB nor a reliable screening test to decide which patients can be safely spared TAB.