Compression Tights Are the Secret to Better WorkoutsAnd Better Legs

Ask the uninitiated what compression tights are, and they’ll probably imagine the sort of impossibly thick knee-highs that Mrs. Doubtfire wriggles into—something that people with circulation problems wear to keep blood from settling in the calves. But in recent years, a chic crop of snug-fitting legwear (including socks, leggings, and hip-to-toe stockings) has found a captive audience among the jet set, the fitness-obsessed, and those with a long-range approach to anti-aging.

Just ask Lisa Airan, MD, a Manhattan dermatologist whose hobbies include collecting Rodarte and extreme skiing. On a trip to Aspen, Colorado, earlier this month, she put her CW-X Endurance Generator Tights to serious work as she flew down the steep face of Highland Bowl. “I ski hard, and these compression tights really help with the recovery and with the stabilization of the knee joint,” she says, reporting that there was noticeably less swelling at day’s end than there would be otherwise. And in keeping with the advent of athleisure, companies like Nike, Lucas Hugh, and 2XU are fusing high-tech fabrics with street-smart colors and patterns.

Vinnie Miliano, a running coach at New York’s indoor treadmill studio Mile High Run Club, is also a compression devotee—he alternates between calf-only sleeves and full-leg pairs—though he acknowledges the lack of definitive research. “There’s science for it, but there’s also naysaying,” he explains. “I tell people that they should at least check it out, because since I’ve started using it, I’ve noticed improvements in my overall body feel,” he adds, citing decreased fatigue and soreness when he wears his go-to Zensah pair—placebo effect or otherwise. “Even if it’s just a mental thing, there are gains to be had.”

What about the everyday marathoners who log their miles in heels? There’s high-performance legwear for them, too, like Falke’s Leg Energizer 50 stockings and Item m6’s opaque leggings, which I test-drove (under wide-leg jeans) on an 11-hour flight to Honolulu last month. Fitted from the ankle to the hip, they help keep feet from swelling between takeoff and landing. “Part of the theory is that the compression helps with the recirculation of blood, so when you arrive, you feel better,” says Airan, who slips on custom-measured tights (more typically worn by those prone to dangerous blood clots, like pregnant women) when flying long-haul. “For me, it’s just for aesthetic reasons,” she says, explaining that “if you want your legs to stay vein-free, then you would definitely want to wear compression tights when you fly.” With summer vacations on the horizon, that’s advice you can run with.

 

 

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