If you have ever suffered a knee or joint injury you more than likely have resorted to a compression sleeve at one point, but what are the benefits of knee compression sleeves exactly? Although there are many benefits of knee compression sleeves, they largely aid in the stabilization muscle tissue and the patella (kneecap), keeping the swelling of muscle fibers at a micro and manageable level, and even helps with aligning your joints. The benefits of compression and the ability of compression to increase oxygen blood flow to the muscles cannot be expressed enough.
The gravity that we are all used to can actually force a build-up of fluid in the muscles and surrounding tissue. This is not solely caused from overuse or repetitive movements of the muscles, but is frequent after and during exercise sessions. This increased swelling will often result in limited mobility and pain due to inflammation. Without wearing compression, the result can be muscle damage, including micro-tears leading to inflammation. Compression helps reduce the inflammation that might slow down the recovery process and therefore helps reduce delayed onset muscle soreness. Many people swear by the use of compression sleeve to alleviate pain in their knees, and even some use them whenever they plan to be on their feet for more than a few hours.
The benefits of knee compression are not limited to just exercise. Many doctors do suggest that after overcoming a knee injury that their patient should begin to use a compression sleeve to help support the injured knee. According to several of the tests that the Department of Orthopedic Surgery in Sweden had done on knee compression, patients that had recently overcome ACL surgery regained confidence of their knees faster. It was additionally concluded that a compression sleeve improved the total integration of the balance control system and muscle coordination. We will go over the injuries that usually require the usage of a knee compression sleeve in our next article which can be found here.