Effects of daily use of intermittent pneumatic compression in competitive handball players: A randomized controlled trial

Intermittent sequential pneumatic compression (ISPC) is used to improve readiness and recovery in athletes. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of daily use of ISPC for 5 weeks on the performance, physiological, and psychological parameters in seventeen male handball players. Players were randomly assigned either to an experimental (EXP, n = 8) or a control (CON, n = 9) group. Before and after the intervention, we measured the countermovement jump (CMJ) and the agility test (T-test) as markers of sport-specific performance, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the brachial and ankle arteries to evaluate the hemodynamic function, and the tensiomyography of biceps femoral, gastrocnemius and vastus medialis to assess muscle function. During the intervention, the session rating of perceived effort (sRPE, 30 minutes after training) and perceived recovery status (PRS, 1 hour after waking-up the following morning) were registered to evaluate subjective recovery. Results showed that CON experienced a decrease in agility performance from pre- to post-intervention (p = 0.030). In contrast, EXP had a significant improvement in the muscle contraction delay time of the left biceps femoris (p = 0.002), and a significant decrease in ankle SBP after the intervention (p = 0.017). Regarding perceived fatigue and recovery, EXP had slightly higher values than CON in PRS (p = 0.047), while sRPE had no significant changes. Thus, daily use of intermittent pneumatic compression for 5 weeks during a training period slightly mitigates the fatigue-induced effects of training, while enhancing hemodynamic regulation and subjective recovery in competitive handball players.