Are Compression Socks Effective?

A study involving amateur female soccer players found that those who wore compression socks during a match experienced less game-induced fatigue than teammates who wore regular socks. Investigators evaluated fatigue by testing agility, standing heel-rise and other factors immediately after the match.

“The benefits were clearly higher with the compression stockings than with regular socks,” said study author Anthony Leicht, associate professor at James Cook University in Australia. “[Our findings] confirmed that there is a protective effect with compression stockings that may be crucial for performance in soccer matches.”

Find the study in Research in Sports Medicine (2018; doi:10.1080/15438627.2018.1527335).