Date of Award

5-2015

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology

First Advisor

Peter McGinnis, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Larissa True, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Alyson Dearie, Ed.D.

Abstract

Compression garments are widely used in sport to enhance performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of thigh compression wraps on 60 m sprint performance. Twenty-six physically active college students, seven men and nineteen women, were participants in the study. The participants completed three 60 m sprints in each of two test sessions. The second test session occurred two to seven days after the first test session. The participant’s thighs were compression wrapped in one test session, the treatment session, and not wrapped in the other test session, the control session. Whether or not the first test session was the treatment or control session was randomly determined. In each test session the participant completed a five-minute warmup on a bicycle ergometer and then ran three 60 m sprints. After each sprint, the participant walked approximately 320 m before sprinting again five minutes after completing the previous sprint. The average 60 m sprint time was 0.100 s slower for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions, but this difference was not significant (p=.057). The women’s average 60 m sprint time was 0.161 s slower for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions. This difference was significant (p=.003). The men’s average 60 m sprint time was 0.067 s faster for the treatment sessions than for the control sessions, but this difference was not significant (p=.601). There was a significant change between all trials in each testing session, but there was only a significant change from the first trial to the second trial in the treatment session (p=.047). This may have been due to loosening effect of the compression wraps. The results indicate that the use of compression wraps has a negative effect on sprint performance in women. The results differ from all other studies examining the effects of compression garments on sprint iv performance. The results of these other studies indicated that the use of compression garments in a small positive effect to no effect on sprint performance. Future studies should examine the effects of the use of compression wraps on performance in other activities.

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