ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Acta Phlebologica 2016 December;17(3):80-5

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Hysteresis and medical compression stockings

André CORNU-THENARD ¹, Pascal JOLLIVET ²

¹ Saint Antoine Hospital, Paris, France; ² Laboratoire Pierre Fabre, Castres, France

BACKGROUND: Hysteresis is the property of a material that enables it to resume its initial shape after having been stretched and released. The aim of this document was to review hysteresis in the field of medical compression, mainly medical stockings, in order to make the point of our knowledge in this area.
METHODS: Two well known bandages with different elasticities and three serial medical compression stockings were used for this in vitro study. Compression was measured using a dynamometer in accordance with the test methods used in Europe. The stretch and relaxation curves were thus planed, analyzed and compared.
RESULTS: As it is well known bandages with short elongations yield concave curves; those with long elongations yield convex curves. For these three elastic stockings the curves are similar to those obtained with bandages with long elongation.
CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained with bandages confirm previous works on hysteresis by the convex shape for bandages with long elongation. The same applies to the stockings since the curves were also convex. As results are closed for the same type of stockings we could propose to the manufacturers to add Hysteresis information for each kind of stocking. Thus render the therapy easier to prescribe.