Those Compression Tights Don't Do What You Think They Do

With Curry, LeBron, and Durant dashing around in tights all finals long, you might assume that the hose they're wearing under their shorts are more than just a nod to A$AP Rocky circa 2014. Buuut, you'd assume wrong—at least per some initial results out this week from a study looking at the effects of wearing compression tights.

The findings come from research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting, and show that though compression tights do reduce muscle vibration (as they're billed to do), they don't actually reduce any muscle fatigue compared to running sans compression tights.

The reduction in muscle vibration is why many believed, prior to this study, that compression tights would be a boon for running up and down the court (or around the track, or whatever). Basically, muscle vibration uses energy, so less muscle vibration was thought to produce less fatigue, Ajit Chaudhari, lead study author and associate professor of physical therapy, orthopedics, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering at The Ohio State University, said in a release. Compression tights have also been said to increase circulation, helping to oxygenate blood and remove toxic byproducts, thusly improving performance and recovery, but research on those effects hasn't managed to rule out the possibility that the small gains some wearers demonstrate is placebo at work.

For the new study—sponsored by Nike, a newsworthy fact in and of itself given how damning the results are—20 male runners ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes at 80 percent max effort on two different days. On one day, they wore compression tights, on the other, they dressed in roomier running clothes.

The participants were tracked in a number of ways: Specialized treadmills measured how hard their feet landed, how they pushed off, and how that changed over time; motion-capture technology measured small changes in their body position; and heart rate monitors tracked their exertion throughout the run. Runners also performed a leg strength and jump height test before and after each run.

No dice. The study found that runners performed the same with and without compression tights in terms of fatigue. Recovery time and muscle soreness were not addressed.

As any exerciser knows, running is just as mental as it is physical; so if, in your heart of hearts, you believe compression tights benefit you, that's reason enough to keep wearing them. "There is nothing in this study that shows it's bad to wear compression tights," Chaudhari said. "Every little bit of perception counts when running long distances, so they may help runners in ways we aren't able to measure."

Read This Next: That Training Mask Doesn't Do What You Think It Does