Commercially available compression garments or electrical stimulation do not enhance recovery following a sprint competition in elite cross-country skiers

This study investigated whether commercially available compression garments (COMP) exerting a moderate level of pressure and/or neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) accelerate recovery following a cross-country sprint skiing competition compared with a control group (CON) consisting of active recovery only. Twenty-one senior (12 males, 9 females) and 11 junior (6 males, 5 females) Swedish national team skiers performed an outdoor sprint skiing competition involving four sprints lasting approximate to 3-4 min. Before the competition, skiers were matched by sex and skiing level (senior versus junior) and randomly assigned to COMP (n=11), NMES (n=11) or CON (n=10). Creatine kinase (CK), urea, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and perceived muscle pain were measured before and 8, 20, 44 and 68h after competition. Neither COMP nor NMES promoted the recovery of blood biomarkers, CMJ or perceived pain post-competition compared with CON (all P>.05). When grouping all 32 participants, urea and perceived muscle pain increased from baseline, peaking at 8h (standardised mean difference (SMD), [95% confidence intervals (CIs)]): 2.8 [2.3, 3.2]) and 44h (odds ratio [95% CI]: 3.3 [2.1, 5.1]) post-competition, respectively. Additionally, CMJ was lower than baseline 44 and 68h post-competition in both males and females (P<.05). CK increased from baseline in males, peaking at 44h (SMD: 1.4 [-0.4, 0.9]), but was decreased in females at 20h post-competition (SMD: -0.8 [-1.4, -0.2]). In conclusion, cross-country sprint skiing induced symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage peaking 8-44h post-competition. However, neither COMP nor NMES promoted physiological or perceptual recovery compared with CON.