Study On Effects Of Garment Pressure At Lower Limbs On Sports Performance

As a kind of high-performance sportswear, tight sportswear has become very popular with both professional athletes and amateur sportsmen. It is reported that wearing tight sportswear during exercise may contribute to enhancing the wearer's sports performance in terms of force, velocity as well as endurance.Focusing on the lower limbs, knee-length gradient compression stockings (GCS) and gradient compression tights (GCT) were chosen as samples, and their pressure distribution and influences on sports performance were investigated. 15 male undergraduate students from Soochow University participated in this research. They were asked to complete performance tests of sitting-knee-isokinetic concentric/concentric contractions, countermovement jumps and continuous running in groups under conditions of wearing loose-fitting sports pants, GCS and GCT. During these tests, performance indicators such as peak torque of isokinetic concentric contractions and countermovement jump height, garment pressure exerted on lower limb muscles, surface electromyography (sEMG) as well as muscle oscillating acceleration were measured simultaneously.After statistically evaluating garment pressure, performance indicators and muscle oscillating acceleration, and analyzing sEMG in time-frequency, following conclusions were drawn:(1) GCS and GCT used in this research could produce a gradient static pressure distribution on lower limbs, in which garment pressure gradually decreased from the ankle to the thigh, and during exercise, the pressure exerted on different parts of the lower limbs fluctuated in cycles because of body surface deformation caused by muscle contractions;(2) GCS and GCT tended to increase muscle force (for example, it was able to enhance maximum concentric contraction force of lower limb muscles and increase maximum countermovement jump height);(3) when doing sports like vertical jumps, wearing GCS and GCT could help to reduce maximum contact force during taking-off between the human body and the force platform;(4) wearing GCS and GCT could alleviate longitudinal and radial muscle oscillations effectively and contribute to decreasing muscle discharge.