Intermittent Sequential Pneumatic Compression (ISPC) has gained traction as a recovery modality among athletes, particularly in cycling. This randomized sham-controlled crossover trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 30-minute high-pressure ISPC intervention compared to a sham condition on the recovery of trained cyclists after a strenuous time trial.
Study Overview
The study involved twenty-one male participants, with an average age of 22.8 years, who underwent a 30-minute all-out time trial on a stationary trainer. The recovery protocol sequence was randomly assigned to each participant. Recovery measures included isometric knee extension, cycling performance during a 4-minute time trial, quadriceps low-frequency fatigue, creatine kinase levels, and subjective assessments of fatigue, recovery, and muscle soreness.
Results
Results indicated that ISPC had positive effects on perceptions of recovery, muscle soreness, and fatigue, as well as improvements in low-frequency fatigue scores and maximal voluntary contraction of knee extension (P < .05). However, these improvements did not translate into enhanced performance in subsequent time trials conducted 24 hours later (P = .18). Furthermore, there was no significant increase in creatine kinase activity following the fatigue protocol.
Conclusion
While ISPC appears to enhance acute subjective and neuromuscular recovery markers following a strenuous cycling effort, it does not confer a performance advantage in short-duration cycling efforts conducted 24 hours later. Nonetheless, its application may still be justified for accelerating perceptual and neuromuscular recovery in high-level cyclists.
What this study does not show
This study does not demonstrate that ISPC improves cycling performance in subsequent time trials conducted 24 hours after the intervention.
Evidence scorecard
- Analytic validity: established
- Clinical validity: established
- Clinical utility: partial
The evidence is based on a randomized controlled trial involving human participants.