Compression Socks

In our opinion compression socks can be beneficial for triathletes.  They are great for recovery from hard runs, long days at work, or traveling. They can also be used during hard training runs if you don’t mind getting heckled by 99.9% of the population.  Wearing them in a race, however, we’re not sold on.  If you can put those things on in under 1 minute, they are most likely not tight enough on your calves to be having any effect anyway.  There is a compromise – calf sleeves, that you could tuck under your wetsuit during the swim and not have to waste time in transition putting the full compression sock on.

The people who run the Ironman show (WTC) had recently placed a ban on compression socks – but it does look like they’ve reversed that decision for Kona this year.  The issue was that they thought athletes were gaining an unfair advantage by covering up their respective age categories.  Sounds like they have eliminated the ritual of putting the athletes age on the back of the calf altogether.

One final thing – if you want to use them purely for recovery you can find the perfect pair for ~$15 at your local pharmacy.  These types tend not to be designed for training (thick cotton soles etc.) but if you want them solely for recovery,  they are way cheaper than the $50-$75 price tag found on compression socks in sports stores.

Here is a great article on compression socks from wisegeek.com.  In fairness to them we’ve only put half the article up here in the hopes that you’ll read the rest on their site.

Compression socks are specialized hosiery items designed to provide extra support and increased blood circulation for their wearers. Some compression sock manufacturers may also use the term support socks to describe their product. Compression socks are not to be confused with traditional dress socks or non-compression diabetic socks, although they may look similar. The main purpose of compression socks is to provide graduated pressure on the lower leg and foot. Traditional dress and athletic socks offer some degree of compression, but not enough to be considered therapeutic.

The key to understanding compression socks lies in their graduated pressure application. Throughout an average day, the body pumps blood to all of the extremities as equally as it can. However, gravity often causes blood to pool in the lower legs and feet, causing circulatory problems such as edema, phlebitis and thrombosis. At the very least, all of this blood pooling can cause fatigue and leg cramps. Elevating the legs and feet may alleviate the pain temporarily, but it often returns after a few hours of constant standing or walking.

This is where the use of compression socks can be extremely beneficial. Compression socks use stronger elastics such as lycra, rubber or spandex to create significant pressure on the legs…


Read more at: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-compression-socks.htm