Key result
Application of a lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garment significantly prevented the retention of extracellular water, enlargement of limb circumferences, and deterioration of arterial blood flow induced by 8 hours of constant sitting.
Why the study?
The physiological response induced by acute prolonged sitting is not fully understood.
Does a lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garment prevent edema and microcirculatory deterioration in healthy males during 8 hours of constant sitting?
RCT (n=9)
Open-label
Within-subject randomization
No
Does a lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garment prevent edema and microcirculatory deterioration in healthy males during 8 hours of constant sitting?
Absolute Event Rate: 6.5% vs 10.1%
p-value: p=<0.05
Lower-pressure elastic compression garments effectively prevent edema and deterioration of arterial blood flow and microcirculation in the lower limbs during prolonged sitting.
Eight-hour sitting was associated with lower-limb edema and microcirculatory decline; leaves open whether low-pressure compression garments confer clinical benefit.
PURPOSE: The physiological response induced by acute prolonged sitting is not fully understood. Therefore, we examined the effects of 8-h constant sitting on microcirculation and associated factors in the lower extremity among healthy males. We also evaluated the protective effects of lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garments on these parameters. METHODS: Nine healthy males (age, 22.6 ± 1.4 yr; body mass index, 22.4 ± 1.8 kg·m-2) completed the 8-h constant sitting experiment. Following baseline measurements, each subject was randomized to wear a lower-pressure elastic garment on the right or left leg from the inguinal region to the ankle joint, with the noncompressed contralateral leg as a control. Circumferences of the calf and malleolus, extracellular water contents, blood flow and shear rate of the dorsal metatarsal artery, and oxygen dynamics in the gastrocnemius muscles were measured in both extremities before and during 8-h constant sitting. RESULTS: Compared with baseline values, 8-h constant sitting caused enlargement of circumferences (calf, 2.4% ± 0.7%; malleolus, 2.7% ± 1.4%), retention of extracellular water in lower extremity muscles (10.1% ± 1.78%), deterioration of the blood flow (61.4% ± 16.2% of baseline) and shear rate of the dorsal metatarsal artery, and decrease in oxygenated hemoglobin and total hemoglobin levels in the gastrocnemius muscle (P < 0.05, respectively). When subjects wore the lower-pressure thigh-length compression garment, a significant reduction of these effects was observed (P < 0.05, for all). CONCLUSIONS: Prolonged sitting for 8 h induced edema, as well as deterioration of the arterial blood flow, shear rate, and microcirculation in lower limb muscles. Conversely, application of the lower-pressure elastic garment successfully prevented the pathophysiological deterioration associated with prolonged sitting.
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A 2021 study conducted an RCT in Healthy (n=9). Lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garment vs. Noncompressed contralateral leg was evaluated on Percent change in extracellular water content in lower extremity muscles after 8-h sitting (p=<0.05). Application of a lower-pressure thigh-length elastic compression garment significantly prevented the retention of extracellular water, enlargement of limb circumferences, and deterioration of arterial blood flow induced by 8 hours of constant sitting.
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