This post is not meant to be informative but rather is a genuine question on my part. I've used elbow and knee compression sleeves for a while because I feel like they "feel nice" and like they are doing something. However, I am not really sure if they actually do anything for injury prevention or recovery. To me, the basic makeup of these simplistic pieces of equipment make it seem almost impossible that the do anything.
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Given their widespread use in professional sports i would like to imagine that they do have at least some sort of therapeutic purpose but the sensible person in me can't imagine what that could possibly be. Is it holding things in place that otherwise would move around? That doesn't seem terribly possible. Does it offer some sort of performance benefit? This seems like if it did that it wouldn't be allowed in professional sports.
So do these things actually do anything? Here is what I could find out.
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Some studies suggest that the effects of compression sleeves, regardless of where they are worn, are purely psychosomatic. While some manufacturers claim that they increase blood flow to the area and therefor help with a speedier recovery, there isn't actually any scientific proof for this claim.
For me, when I have a joint that hurts for whatever reason, I FEEL like it feels nice when I cover the area with sports cream and then put on a compression sleeve. It simply feels nice and as far as I can tell that is the only benefit.
One common thing that people in various sports complain about is "tennis elbow" and no, you do not have to play tennis in order to have this affliction. Any repeated motion in any sport, including lifting weights, is going to put a lot of strain on the tendons and joints in the knees and elbows. This results in a nagging pain in the area and for a lot of people, including me, using compression sleeves feel like they are doing something and maybe that is all there is to it.
I can't find any scientific data that provides any medical benefit to using these things but I still use them, even if there is no medical benefit to it. I'm not saying that there for sure isn't any benefit, I just can't find any definitive proof that they actually work.
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Even though I can't find any scientific data of their effects, the only real proof that I need to indicate that there must be some benefit is that in almost any professional sport where the athletes are paid millions of dollars, you see widespread use of this technology and if it being used there, this suggests to me that there must at least be SOME benefit to using them.
The problem with obtaining this information online is that for the most part, like with a lot of products, the data that a lot of websites use as "proof" is contained on a website that is also selling these products. Since sports marketing is a very powerful tool I can't help but feel as though we are being duped in order to sell more of this particular product even if it doesn't do anything.
One impartial, double blind study that I was able to find showed some benefit to lower limbs when compression clothing was used, but even they admit that the benefit was minimal at best and could perhaps be simply coincidental.
So I guess the jury is still out on whether or not these things actually do anything. I'll continue to wear mine during lifting sessions just because like I said before, it feels nice. Whether or not there is any sort of physiological benefit or not I can't say and since the internet's primary objective seems to be to sell me stuff, I suppose this will have to remain an unknown at least for now.
If you know differently I would love to get some references so I could learn something!