Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jun 14;10(6):663.
doi: 10.3390/polym10060663.

Compression Garments for Medical Therapy and Sports

Affiliations
Review

Compression Garments for Medical Therapy and Sports

Ying Xiong et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Compression garments are elastic clothing with an engineered compression gradient that can be worn on limbs, upper, lower, or full body to use for therapy and sports. This article presents an overview and review on the compression garments and concentrates on the design of compression garments with an appropriate pressure for specific applications. It covers the types of compression garments, fibers and yarns, knitted fabric construction, garment design, an evaluation system, and pressure measurement and modeling. The material properties, fabric properties, pressure modeling, and the garment design system presents the prediction, design, and fabrication of the compression garments. Lastly, the research status and directions are discussed.

Keywords: compression garment; design; knitting; material; modeling; pressure therapy; sportswear.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Stress-strain curves of a covered yarn with elastic core and covering yarns. Images adapted and reproduced with permission from Reference [69]. Copyright SAGE Publications 2012.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Load-elongation curves of the 100% cotton yarn, the spandex, and the elastic core-spun yarn. Images adapted and reproduced with permission from Reference [70]. Copyright SAGE Publications 2004.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Typical knitting construction for elastic fabrics (red line is elastic yarn and yellow line is ground yarn): (a) Elastic yarns are as laid-in stitch in jersey. (b) Elastic yarns are as weft inlay stitch in jersey. (c) Elastic yarns are as plating stitch in jersey. (d) Elastic yarns are as plating stitch in rib, (e) Elastic yarns are as weft inlay stitch in jersey. (f) Elastic yarns are knitted on the back bar with 1–0/1–2// tricot stitch. (g) Elastic yarns are as laid-in stitch to produce power-net construction.

References

    1. MacRae B.A., Cotter J.D., Laing R.M. Compression garments and exercise: Garment considerations, physiology and performance. Sports Med. 2011;41:815–843. doi: 10.2165/11591420-000000000-00000. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang L., Felder M., Cai J.Y. Study of properties of medical compression garment fabrics. J. Fiber Bioeng. Inform. 2011;4:15–22. doi: 10.3993/jfbi04201102. - DOI
    1. Felty C.L., Rooke T.W. Compression therapy for chronic venous insufficiency. Semin. Vasc. Surg. 2005;18:36–40. doi: 10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2004.12.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Martin H.A. The india-rubber bandage for ulcers and other diseases of the legs. Br. Med. J. 1878;2:624. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.930.624. - DOI
    1. Staley M.J., Richard R.L. Use of pressure to treat hypertrophic burn scars. Adv. Wound Care. 1997;10:44–46. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources