Knee-High Graduated Compression Socks improve oxygenation, removal of lactic acid & free radicals, which reduces muscle soreness and speeds-up recovery. Compression socks gently squeeze your legs to speed up blood flow back to your heart.
Compression socks have been used in the medical industry for decades, as these socks are known to improve circulation, lymphatic flow, and venous return. Since the late 1980s, graduated compression socks, have been used by cyclists, and other athletes, to improve recovery between rides and training sessions.
The Main Benefits for Cyclists:
Increased blood flow back to the heart (medically, this is called Venous Return)
Improved oxygen and nutrition delivery to fatigued leg muscles
More efficient removal of free radicals and metabolites that have accumulated during the ride
Compression socks also limit inflammation by creating an external pressure gradient
“Like many performance interventions that have permeated professional cycling, compression socks started out in the medical sector. Unlike EPO, human growth hormone and testosterone, though, their use in professional cycling is legal - well, in training and recovery anyway.”
How compression socks work
Compression garments, including compression socks, all function based on the premises of applied pressure and skin coverage. Compression socks improve venous return, which is the blood flow that returns to your heart for re-oxygenation.
How Does a Graduated Compression Sock Function?
A graduated pressure is applied from your foot up to your calf which gradually decreases continuously from the ankle toward your upper leg
The highest pressure is around your ankle
Lowest pressure at the top of the sock or just above your calf muscle
This makes your blood flow faster in your legs
Your Body’s 2nd “heart”
Bicycle riding will increase the blood flow to your legs. This is accomplished in many ways, but the most significant is from the enhanced action of your Calf Pump, sometimes referred to as your body’s peripheral heart.
Exercising activates the Calf Pump as does external compression…..like from a graduated compression sock.
Compression socks & intermittent-high-intensity activities
A 2013 meta-analysis, which is a research method that combines the results of many studies into an overall “effect” or outcome, found 423 studies linked to compression clothing, about endurance, power, and/or strength. Of the more than 400 studies, only 31 studies met the criteria to be examined further, with the results being published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance:
The researchers found that compression clothing, including compression socks, was beneficial for activities that are intermittent-high-intensity. This means that road cyclists and mountain bikers will benefit, as both of these forms of cycling, especially uphill or gradual gradients, require periods of a maximum burst of power to propel the rider to the top
Endurance based activities, like long-distance jogging, or even leisurely cycling on relatively flat terrain, didn’t receive benefits from compression clothing, as the intensity wasn’t high enough to cause muscle soreness or lactic-acid buildup
Compression socks helped aid recovery when worn after cycling, as the socks improved lactic acid removal, reductions in muscle swelling, and decreased muscle soreness
Cycling on consecutive days
For bike touring and cycling on consecutive days, wearing compression socks after your ride is one of the best and easiest recovery modalities.
A 2017 meta-analysis from Northumbria University in the UK, concluded that “compression garments would seem to be most effective for recovery from resistance exercise” as well “as for next-day cycling performance.” (emphasis is from this author)
The researchers believe that the compression socks work to aid in muscle recovery mainly through the reduction of inflammation. As you breakdown leg muscles from pedaling uphills, fluid leak into the damaged muscle cells and cause swelling or inflammation. The more fluid that leaks into your muscles, the more muscle damage and soreness you will experience. Compression socks limit the amount of swelling, which reduces soreness, allowing you to tackle multi-day cycle trips.
Free radicals & cycling
During exercise…..like cycling, for example, your body will create free radicals, which is a by-product of the increased breathing rate and caloric burn. A free radical is a molecule or a group of atoms with an odd number of electrons, making them unstable. Since these electrons are missing a “partner,” in search of electron parity, they attack different parts of your body, such as hair, DNA, skin, and muscle tissue.
The muscles of your calf and foot, along with veins and valves, work together to send de-oxygenated (toxic) blood back up to your heart and lungs for cleansing and oxygenation. Wearing compression socks makes this process happen faster and more efficiently.
Stretching vs compression socks
Stretching is the most used recovery strategy, regardless of sport or athletic hobby. Many athletes, including cyclists, stretch before and after their ride as a way to reduce muscle soreness and risk of injury or to improve ride time.
Since stretching is so common, there must be loads of scientific data to support the benefits??? Well, not so much. A 2002 meta-analysis on the “effects of stretching” searched for academic studies related to any form of stretching in relation to injury risk, muscle soreness, or performance changes. The researchers looked through all the relevant studies from 1949 to 2000, combing through 51 years of research and found a whopping 8 studies that met their criteria.
So what did the researchers conclude after reviewing 5 decades of stretching research?
“Stretching before and after exercising does not confer protection from muscle soreness and stretching before exercise does not seem to confer a practically useful reduction in the risk of injury ”
While scientific evidence doesn’t support stretching, numerous studies have shown the benefits of recovery from wearing compression socks. This doesn’t get much better as all you have to do is wear them after cycling as you enjoy a nice cold beverage.
“we conclude that there are beneficial effects of compression clothing, especially during intermittent high-intensity exercise such as repeated sprinting ”
Final Thought
To actually get the benefits from compression socks, they have to feature graduated pressure, or they will not work, and be nothing more than a typical knee-high sock.
“Findings from the current study suggest that athletes should employ the use of compression garments between exercise bouts to improve recovery and enhance subsequent performance”
Compression is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg), which is the same pressure system that is used to measure your blood pressure. A compression sock that is around 22mmHg at the ankle is the right amount of pressure for most cyclists.
Jesse is the Director of Pedal Chile and lives in Chile’s Patagonia (most of the year). Jesse has a Master of Science in Health & Human Performance and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. Hobbies: MTBer, snowboarder, reader of narrative non-fiction, researcher, taster of yummy craft beers, and wearer of graduated compression socks.
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Sources for this article
“Compared with the placebo group the compression group had a 5.9% improvement in their run time to exhaustion”
Armstrong, S.A., Till, E.S., Maloney, S.R. and Harris, G.A. (2015). Compression Socks and Functional Recovery Following Marathon Running. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(2), pp.528–533. (fig2)
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