What’s The Impression of Compression?
Fashion statement, performance boost, or both?
Whenever a basketball game is taking place, whether it is professional or recreational, there will be players wearing compression clothing. This can include, but is not limited to, arm sleeves, shorts, or shirts. But what do these compression garments actually do? Are they really as useful as they are widespread?
The science behind compression clothing is related more to physiology than physics, but the actual act of compression is entirely a physics concept. When a spring is stretched, it has a force, called the restoring force, pulling it back to its equilibrium: an unstretched and uncompressed state. This same concept applies to compression fabric – when an athlete stretches the fabric over, for example, their arm, the fabric exerts a restorative force thus squeezing the athlete’s arm. This compression improves blood flow in the area, which in turn helps to deliver more oxygen to an athlete’s muscles.
Previously, we discussed this concept in the Vibration Dampener article, so, if you’re interested in another application of this, go check that article out.
To examine whether the theoretical benefit of compression clothing is helpful in reality, a 2020 study published in the journal Applied Sciences found that using a piece of compression clothing improved free-throw accuracy. The study used 20 male, right-hand dominant, basketball players who were physically fit and free of injury for the past six months. Each participant performed five sets of 20 free throws under five clothing conditions; 1) pre-control, with no compression clothing at all; 2) upper-body compression clothing; 3) lower-body compression clothing; 4) full-body compression garment; and 5) post-control, again with no compression clothing at all. Using an upper-body garment improved free throw accuracy by 4.2% and a full-body garment improved accuracy by 5.9%. Interestingly, solely lower-body garments had no effect on free-throw accuracy at all.
So, what are basketball players to do? From the results of the study, it seems pretty simple – wear upper-body or full-body compression garments, and a small increase in shooting accuracy should be expected. In all reality, however, the best compression clothes are likely ones that the athlete feels most comfortable with, so that their mental game is just as strong as their physical one.
