Intermittent Sequential Pneumatic Compression (ISPC) has become a popular recovery modality among athletes, particularly in high-performance cycling. This randomized sham-controlled crossover trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of a 30-minute high-pressure ISPC intervention compared to a sham condition on various recovery markers in trained cyclists following a strenuous cycling effort.
The study involved twenty-one male participants, with an average age of 22.8 years. Each participant underwent a 30-minute all-out time trial on a stationary trainer, after which recovery measures were taken at baseline, one hour post-intervention, and at 24 and 48 hours. The 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 indicated that ISPC had a positive impact on perceptions of recovery, muscle soreness, and fatigue, as well as on low-frequency fatigue scores and maximal voluntary contraction of knee extension. However, these improvements did not translate into enhanced performance in subsequent time trials conducted 24 hours later. Specifically, the performance metrics showed no significant difference (P = .18) between the ISPC and sham conditions.
Additionally, the study found no significant increase in creatine kinase activity following the fatigue protocol, suggesting that the physiological recovery markers did not show expected changes. The authors concluded that while ISPC may enhance acute subjective and neuromuscular recovery markers after intense exercise, it does not provide a performance advantage in short-duration cycling efforts conducted a day later.
What this study does not show
This study does not demonstrate that ISPC improves cycling performance in trained athletes following intense exercise, as no significant performance benefits were observed in subsequent trials.
Evidence scorecard
- Analytic validity: established
- Clinical validity: established
- Clinical utility: partial
The evidence class is human_rct, indicating that the findings are based on a randomized controlled trial involving human participants.