An endurance mountain/road biker friend of mine was telling me about compression leggings available from companies like Body Science Compression.
He wears these items to help with muscle recovery and circulation among other things. He told me that he wears his compression leggings on airplanes to help with circulation.
I'm wondering if anyone thinks there is merit to wearing these types of leggings when paddling C-1 to facilitate circulation.
Compression Clothing
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Berkshire Jack
- Pain Boater
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:58 pm
- Location: Berkshires, Massachusetts
My Experience with compression socks.
A year ago I was scouting a rapid. Slipped on a rock and sustained a nasty cut on the leg. 
River water got in the wound and I didn't take care of it or pay attention. A few days later I came down with flu like symptoms - fever and muscle aches galore. Eventually I looked down at my right leg and notice it was swollen so much the skin was bursting at the seams. 
A trip to the ER, a course of antibiotics, and the infection was wiped out, but the extreme swelling had caused my leg to become twice its normal size. The swelling had damaged the capillaries, small arteries and veins in the leg and they were leaking fluid into the tissue like a sieve. My primary doc recommended compression stockings. Theory being - Squeeze the tissue and leave little space for the fluid to accumulate in while the blood vessels heal. He said that the leg may never reach the old scrawny size.
Well I wore compression stockings all season long - Night, day, C1-ing and jogging. The leg is almost back to normal - not quite there but a huge improvement. While in the C1 or my open boats, I only wore the compression stockings which came up to my knee, but not over it. I didn't wear the longer ones which go over the knee because I hated the bunching of material that occurs behind the knee while I'm kneeling. Besides being uncomfortable, I felt that bunching might cut down on circulation a bit, impinging on the arteries and veins that run in that area. The calf-length compression stockings felt fine while boating. I often thought they might help prevent deep vein thrombosis which theoretically can occur when the legs are immobilized for long periods of time - as in a C1 kneeling position. I am getting to that age where I have to think of those things.
Being that I only wore the compression stocking on the leg that was swollen, I can't say whether it made that leg more comfortable while in the C1 or not. The leg was much more swollen than the normal leg, and it was dam uncomfortable being folded over and crammed into the hull for long periods and sure as hades let me know it at the beginning of the season. It might have been more uncomfortable, if I didn't wear the stocking, but I wasn't going to experiment. However, by the end of the season, the leg was barely protesting so I feel there was a success.
I have the seats in my boats fairly low. In my main boat, a converted Dagger Redline, the seat is 6 inches off the bottom. In my Wheelboy, the seat is 5 inches off the bottom. I didn't really answer your question, because I don't really have the medical backround to answer it, but for what it is worth I do plan on wearing the compression stocking next year, just to ward off the deep vein thrombosis thingy.
Jack
River water got in the wound and I didn't take care of it or pay attention. A few days later I came down with flu like symptoms - fever and muscle aches galore. Eventually I looked down at my right leg and notice it was swollen so much the skin was bursting at the seams. A trip to the ER, a course of antibiotics, and the infection was wiped out, but the extreme swelling had caused my leg to become twice its normal size. The swelling had damaged the capillaries, small arteries and veins in the leg and they were leaking fluid into the tissue like a sieve. My primary doc recommended compression stockings. Theory being - Squeeze the tissue and leave little space for the fluid to accumulate in while the blood vessels heal. He said that the leg may never reach the old scrawny size. Well I wore compression stockings all season long - Night, day, C1-ing and jogging. The leg is almost back to normal - not quite there but a huge improvement. While in the C1 or my open boats, I only wore the compression stockings which came up to my knee, but not over it. I didn't wear the longer ones which go over the knee because I hated the bunching of material that occurs behind the knee while I'm kneeling. Besides being uncomfortable, I felt that bunching might cut down on circulation a bit, impinging on the arteries and veins that run in that area. The calf-length compression stockings felt fine while boating. I often thought they might help prevent deep vein thrombosis which theoretically can occur when the legs are immobilized for long periods of time - as in a C1 kneeling position. I am getting to that age where I have to think of those things.
Being that I only wore the compression stocking on the leg that was swollen, I can't say whether it made that leg more comfortable while in the C1 or not. The leg was much more swollen than the normal leg, and it was dam uncomfortable being folded over and crammed into the hull for long periods and sure as hades let me know it at the beginning of the season. It might have been more uncomfortable, if I didn't wear the stocking, but I wasn't going to experiment. However, by the end of the season, the leg was barely protesting so I feel there was a success.
I have the seats in my boats fairly low. In my main boat, a converted Dagger Redline, the seat is 6 inches off the bottom. In my Wheelboy, the seat is 5 inches off the bottom. I didn't really answer your question, because I don't really have the medical backround to answer it, but for what it is worth I do plan on wearing the compression stocking next year, just to ward off the deep vein thrombosis thingy.
Jack
C1-er