What Do Compression Socks Actually Do for Your Workouts? | SELF

Nov 06, 2024

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Look around the start line of any marathon, and you’ll see them—tight, tall socks, often in bright colors and fun patterns, that squeeze runners’ calves. And you might have even noticed compression socks popping up at the gym, too.

These snug garments were once used primarily in medical contexts to improve circulation, especially in people with damage to their leg veins (say, due to a condition called chronic venous insufficiency). By squeezing the muscles and blood vessels in your legs, compression garments increase what’s called venous return, the flow of blood from your extremities back to your heart, Gregory Rubin, DO, primary sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery based in Naples, Florida, tells SELF.

In recent years, compression socks have busted out of the clinic onto the race course and into the weight room, with runners and lifters hoping to improve their performance or enhance recovery. But do they actually…do anything, besides look pretty cool, if you don’t have a circulatory disorder? We break down the science-backed benefits—and dispel the ones that aren’t so evidence-based.

Fluids like blood and lymph—a clear, watery liquid that carries immune cells and waste around your body—can pool in your legs when you’re on your feet all day (say, if you’re a teacher or nurse). Prior injuries, such as ankle sprains, may trigger lingering swelling even after they heal. And ankle and leg swelling is also more common in pregnant people or those with medical conditions like lymphedema (which often occurs during or after cancer treatment) or diabetes, board-certified sports physical therapist Leada Malek, DPT, CSCS, tells SELF.

So if you have swelling due to any of those reasons, wearing compression socks throughout the day, including during exercise, can squeeze out fluids to control it, Dr. Malek says. As a result, you’ll likely feel better and be able to move more freely, and you might protect your tissues from further damage.

Compression socks are also part of an effective strategy for managing the symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (more commonly known as POTS), a nervous system disorder that can cause dizziness or fainting when you go from lying or sitting to standing. Just ask Olympic swimming superstar Katie Ledecky, who has the condition and swears by them. By helping push blood back upward from the legs—where it often pools when you have POTS—to the heart and brain, the socks can ease symptoms like lightheadedness and fatigue.

And when it comes to injuries, by providing a gentle squeeze to your muscles and joints, they also might help you feel better and more stable as you reach the tail end of recovery. Dr. Rubin says he’ll sometimes recommend patients try them after graduating from a boot or a brace for an ankle sprain, to offer a little extra support—and swelling reduction—as they ramp up their training again.

Have a long-haul flight to a faraway race? As a research review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews notes, putting on compression socks on the plane might help you arrive healthy by reducing your risk of deep vein thrombosis or DVT, blood clots that can form in the deep veins of your legs, especially after you’re sedentary for a while.

Wearing them during a race might also decrease your risk of clots on the flight home, Dr. Rubin says. A 2018 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found runners who wore them during a marathon had lower levels of a compound in the blood called D-dimer afterward. “That’s a surrogate we look for for how much potential there is for blood to clot,” Dr. Rubin says; the lower it is, the less likely you are to develop DVT.

Strange as it sounds, if you’re prone to gastrointestinal distress mid-race, compression socks are worth a try, Dr. Rubin says. One reason that happens is that exercise decreases blood flow to your gut, causing short-term damage to your intestines. Compression socks direct more blood from your legs to your GI tract, mitigating the issue, according to a 2022 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

The jury’s still out on whether compression socks actually protect your muscles from damage during a hard effort. Some studies, such as a 2014 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggest wearing compression garments during a tough exercise session can decrease levels of creatine kinase, a marker of muscle damage. But others, such as a 2019 randomized controlled trial of marathoners in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, show no difference in the measure.

Of course, how you feel the day or two after a race or a heavy lifting session may matter more to you than your levels of certain blood chemicals. And several studies have found people report perceiving less discomfort in the next day or two after wearing them.

“Everyone’s different,” Susie Reiner, PhD, CSCS, certified exercise physiologist and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Kentucky’s Sports Medicine Research Institute, tells SELF. But if you’re prone to post-exercise soreness or your training is getting a little more intense, there’s little downside to trying them, either during or after your workout or race. If you’re already sore, the sensation of squeezing around your muscles could make you feel more stable and get you moving again sooner, she says—and light physical activity is among the most effective forms of relief for post-exercise soreness.

In theory, boosting venous return should help more oxygen-rich blood flow back to the muscles, which could improve performance, Dr. Rubin says. But in practice, there’s little evidence that wearing compression socks during a race or hard workout affects your pace or the weight you can push. For example, in a 2015 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, marathoners didn’t run faster if they were wearing them.

“In the grand scheme of things, for athletic performance, we can't say that it typically affects it too much,” Dr. Malek says. Factors like nutrition and sleep are likely to have a far greater impact.

But there could be a psychological element involved in wearing them on race day or for a big effort—if they warm up your muscles or make you feel fast, sturdy, or strong, you might just find yourself able to push a little harder as a result, Dr. Reiner says.

And some research suggests your next workout might go better, Dr. Rubin says. According to a small 2019 study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, runners who wore them in one 5K time trial were able to run a second 5K an hour later in a faster time.

While many athletes say they wear compression socks to prevent getting hurt or keeping a minor pain from becoming a bigger injury, there’s no evidence to support that approach, Dr. Rubin says. “It might empower people to feel like they’re doing something,” he says. “But it’s not evidence-based.”

Ask your healthcare team before trying them if you have cardiovascular conditions (say, like peripheral artery disease or high blood pressure) or if you have nerve damage due to something like diabetes, Dr. Malek says, since any numbness in your legs might mean you won’t notice if the socks are too tight (they should feel snug, but not painful) or cause skin issues. For folks who are generally healthy, there’s little risk in trying them for yourself.

In that case, if you’re wearing them during exercise, you should look for moisture-wicking compression socks with a pressure of 20 to 30 mmHg, Dr. Rubin recommends. Those with health conditions like POTS or damaged veins might want more pressure, but check with your healthcare provider—and if you’re using them for something like diabetes or lymphedema, get them custom-fitted, Dr. Malek says.

The bottom line? While they might not push you to a PR, there are a few benefits to trying compression socks (unless you have a medical reason to avoid them). And if putting on a pair makes you feel more excited and motivated to hit the gym or toe the starting line, even better.

Related:

Get more of SELF’s great fitness coverage delivered right to your inbox—for free.