VERTICS.Sleeves Study finished!

deutsche Version der VERTICS.Sleeves Studie

VERTICS.Sleeves to the test! The Swiss want to know: keep the sleeves what they promise? Therefore, a scientific, sport physiological study of the operation of forearm compression sleeves was conducted. It was conducted by Jona Harder and Lars Donath of the University of Basel. The swiss national climbing team coach Urs Stoecker and 12 athletes of the national team took part at the climbing sessions and examinations. Volker Schöffl stand the team in an advisory capacity. The training took place in Greifensee in the indoor climbing gym “Milandia”. Over a period of 4 weeks, the effectiveness and functionality of VERTICS.Sleeves was closely scrutinized.

How was the mode?

First, at the warm-up on the boulder wall and with pull-ups and push-ups, the pulse clocks were brought up to speed. Then the athletes went in the long, high overhanging roof-Boulder area. The 40 boulder moves were climbed on an assembly line in a plurality of blocks and passes. In between the climbing blocks the athletes were repeatedly taken to the earlobe puncture for lactate determination. Other parameters such as “perceived exertion and stress” or “perceived pain” were queried during exercise via the Borg- and VAS scale. Here are the first results. Of course there was a blind comparison with manipulated VERTICS.Sleeves without appreciable compression ( falsum sleeves ) .

The results of the study will be published in summer. But here you have a first little insight view.

in preparation:

Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology

Acute effects of novel forearm compression sleeves on lactate accumulation, heart rates perceived exertion and pain in elite climbers

Short title: forearm compression sleeves in climbing

Jona Harder, Urs Stöcker, Peter Wolf, Lars Donath

In the field of blood lactate and heart rate only very moderate but not significant effects could be found. This suggests that physiological adaptation occur by wearing VERTICS.Sleeves in training in the field of blood lactate and heart rate. These values are to be interpreted in detail but now it is still unclear.

Studie1 — Figure 1 Capillary blood lactate concentration (A) and heart rates (B) between verum (squares) and falsum (triangles) sleeves for pre and post testing during week 1 and 2. Lactate and heart rate: Independent of the time points, a moderate non-significant condition effect was found during week 1 and 2 for acute lactate (p=0.44, ηp²=0.10) and heart rate (p=0.45, ηp²=0.12) response. A large and highly significant time effect was observed for lactate (p<0.001, ηp²=0.77) and heart rate (p<0.001, ηp²=0.97). Condition × time interaction effects were neither found for lactate (p=0.70, ηp²=0.02) and heart rate response (p=0.66, ηp²=0.04).

Interesting results were obtained with the study in the area of perceived stress and pain. A change in the perceived pain could not be found, which can probably infer individual pain of athletes. However, large changes were observed in the range of perceived stress. There was a large but not significant effect, so we strongly suggest that the exertion with VERTICS.Sleeves is perceived as less than without. However, the present results are limited to a very small and homogeneous group of performance athletes. Further studies should be carried out with many climbers with different skills to get more results.

Studie2 — Figure 2 perceived exertion level obtained from the Borg scale (A) and pain perception obtained from the VAS (B) between verum (squares) and falsum (triangles) sleeves for pre and post testing during week 1 and 2. Perceived exertion and pain: A moderate but non-significant condition effect was found during week 1 and 2 for perceived exertion level (p=0.51, ηp²=0.08) and pain perception (p=0.67, ηp²=0.03) response. A large and highly significant time effect was also found for perceived exertion (p<0.001, ηp²=0.74) and pain perception (p=0.01, ηp²=0.66). Interestingly, a very large but non-significant condition × time interaction effect was observed for perceived exertion (p=0.20, ηp²=0.26). In contrast, no interaction effect was observed for pain perception (p=0.62, ηp²=0.04).

This is a bit too complex, so here is a summary chart with the relevant parameters. A particular note is the difference in lactate levels. A small but measurable difference in blood lactate concentration, despite the relatively small forearm muscle (compared to body muscle mass) could be detected. Significant is the difference in perceived exertion, measured by the Borg scale. With VERTICS.Sleeves the athletes had the feeling of being a little less exerted.

Study results VERTICS.Sleeves

In addition to the study VERTICS asked 107 VERTICS.Sleeves climbers what they think about the effectiveness of VERTICS.Sleeves. Click Here to read more about the results of the survey.

Watch the Video of the Training here…

And here again with some pics:

VERTICS.Sleeves im Testdesign — VERTICS.Sleeves in Special test design

The study was conducted by Jona Harder and Lars Donath of the University of Basel. The switzerland national climbing team coach Urs Stoecker and 12 athletes of the national team took part at the climbing sessions and examinations. Volker Schöffl stand the team in an advisory capacity. The training took place in Greifensee in the indoor climbing gym “Milandia”.

Over a period of 4 weeks, the effectiveness and functionality of the sleeves was closely scrutinized.

First, at the warm-up on the boulder wall, with pull-ups and push-ups, the pulse clocks were brought up to Speed.

Warming up at the beginning of the climbing tests

Then the athletes went in the long, high overhanging roof–Boulder area.

The 40 trains–Boulder were climbed on an assembly line in a plurality of blocks and passes.

In between the climbing sessions the athletes was repeatedly taken to the earlobe puncture for lactate determination.

Other parameters such as “perceived exertion” or “perceived pain” were queried during exercise via the Borg scale.

complete questionnaires and give pain scores