No previous studies have investigated the effect of lower body compression garments (CG) on running performance in the heat. This study tested the hypothesis that CG would negatively affect running performance in the heat by comparing CG and non-CG conditions for running performance and physiological responses in hot and cold conditions. Ten male recreational runners (29.0 ± 10.0 years, V_O2max: 58.7 ± 2.7 ml kg-1 min-1 ) performed four treadmill tests consisting of 20-min running at first ventilatory threshold followed by a run to exhaustion at V_O2max velocity in four conditions: 10C with CG, 10C without CG, 32C with CG, and 32C without CG (randomised, counterbalanced order). Time to exhaustion (TTE), skin and rectal temperature, V_O2, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were compared between CG and non-CG conditions at each environmental temperature. TTE was not significantly different between the CG and non-CG conditions at 10C (158 ± 74 vs. 148 ± 73 s) and 32C (115 ± 40 vs. 97 ± 33 s); however, there was a small (0.15) and moderate effect size (0.48), respectively, suggestive of an improvement in TTE with CG. Lower limb skin temperature was 1.5C higher at 10C with CG (P\0.05), but no significant differences in other physiological variables, including rectal temperature, were observed between garment conditions. Interestingly, RPE was lower (P\0.05) during submaximal running at 32C with CG (13.8 ± 2.0) compared with non-CG (14.5 ± 2.7). It was concluded that CG had no adverse effects on running performance in hot conditions. Keyword

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Time to exhaustion, oxygen consumption, rectal temperature, skin temperature, rating of perceived exertion
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Human Movement and Sports Science
Research Field:	Exercise Physiology
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Health and Support Services
Objective Field:	Health and Support Services not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Goh, SS (Dr Sam Wu)
ID Code:	100123
Year Published:	2010
Web of Science® Times Cited:	30
Deposited By:	Health Sciences B
Deposited On:	2015-05-04
Last Modified:	2015-08-18
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