Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) occurs in the days following intense or novel activities and symptoms can range from muscle tenderness to severe debilitating pain (5).

Research has indicated that compression garments can reduce both the severity of DOMS and recovery time following eccentric muscle damage.

In a clinical trial Kraemer and co-workers (12) induced delayed onset muscle soreness through an eccentric resistance training protocol in 20 female participants. Immediately after the muscle damaging protocol the women were divided into two groups, one group wore a compression garment for 5 days while the other group received no treatment. The results indicated that compression garments facilitated recovery of muscle strength and power and resulted in significantly less perceived muscle soreness. Interestingly on day 5 the group receiving no treatment had a 2-3cm increase in upper arm circumference attributed to swelling, while the compression garment group had no swelling at all.

More recently a study was conducted in which subjects performed downhill walking with one leg covered by a compression garment while the other leg remained uncovered and acted as a control. The participants were then carefully monitored in the 48 hours after the exercise trial. The scientists conducting the study concluded that the compression garment accelerated the inflammatory and repair timeframe within the muscle (17). This could explain why compression garments have previously been reported to facilitate a more rapid recovery of performance following soft tissue damage.