Okay, maybe not sexy, but I do think they are effective. Even though the science on the use of compression socks leaves room for debate, my experience using them suggests that they are great tools for enhancing recovery – particularly from long distance running.
When we were at the Lake Placid Ironman, we saw many of the athletes wearing compression socks – walking around in them the day before and after the race, as well as wearing the socks during the race. Oddly, I had forgotten about my socks, which I had purchased back in March. I hadn’t worn them in a month or so because I wasn’t running long distances due to healing from a minor bout of hip bursitis.
But, watching the athletes reminded me: Hey! I have a pair of those, too. I bet they would help my sore calves. I’ve been experimenting with barefoot running and trying to change my form to avoid being an impressively bad heel striker to being a light-on-my-feet midfoot runner. This change, however, has caused some pressure on my heretofore underutilized calf muscles. And, my last attempt at barefoot running was probably a little bit more than it should have been and probably a little bit too close to my toes as opposed to the midfoot. The resultant sharp pain and stiffness in my calves hadn’t responded to icing, biofreeze, stretching and so on–even after 5 or 6 days. I mean, there’s DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and then there’s DOMS. I was decidedly experiencing the latter case.
When we returned from Lake Placid, I put the compression socks on for 24 hours, and when I woke up, the soreness and ice-pick stabbing pain was gone–completely.
Now, I realize there could be other variables that contributed to the pain dissipating. Time is one of those variables, after all, it had been 7 days since the pain began. But, the day before I wore the compression socks, I was still experiencing a great deal of stiffness and pain in my calves. The day after I wore the socks, the pain was completely gone. I was able to bike 50 miles and then run 17 without any reocurrence of the pain. This isn’t scientific proof, but it’s proof enough for me. I will keep wearing the socks after my long workouts.
I’ve never run or raced in my socks, as some endurance athletes do. But, given my experience with my sore calf recovery, I think I’m going to give it a try.
If you’ve used compression socks, I’m interested in reading about your experiences with them.
A few articles discussing compression socks:
- From Running Times, “Do Compression Socks Work,” http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13830
- From Joe Friel’s Blog (author of The Triathlete’s Training Bible) “Can your socks make you faster,” http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2007/10/can-your-socks-make-you-faster.html, and “Compression Socks Update,” http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/03/compression-socks-update.html (Both of these posts include citations of scientific studies of the use of compression socks.)
- From Runner’s World, “Feel the Squeeze: Sizing Up the Benefits of Compression Socks,” http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-320–13079-0,00.html
