Energy Consumption during the Wearing of Pantyhose

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to develop pantyhose that reduce leg muscle fatigue when heeled shoes are worn. To this end, pantyhose that provide a comfortable fitting sensation were developed, and the wear experience of the pantyhose and the effect of the pantyhose on energy consumption under walking muscle activity of the lower limbs were investigated. The study participants were 17 healthy Japanese females in their twenties who did not usually put on support wear. The respiratory metabolism was measured as the participants either walked without pantyhose or wore one of two types of pantyhose and wore three types of shoe, namely running/low-heeled/high-heeled shoes. Participants walked on a treadmill at 3 km/h. Regardless of whether pantyhose were worn, the energy consumption increased significantly with walking relative to standing. During walking, energy consumption increased significantly in the order of not wearing shoes, wearing running shoes, wearing low-heeled shoes, and wearing high-heeled shoes. In other words, a higher heel height corresponded to higher energy consumption, regardless of whether pantyhose were worn. Wearing pantyhose while standing upright increased energy consumption, especially in the case of pantyhose A, for which energy consumption was significantly higher than that when going barefoot. In addition, for walking in running shoes, the energy consumption was significantly higher when pantyhose A were worn than when no pantyhose were worn. The wearing of pantyhose A, but not the wearing of pantyhose B, was thus found to increase energy consumption.