van Campen, C Linda M C, Rowe, Peter C, Visser, Frans C · Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021 · DOI
Many ME/CFS patients experience dizziness and other symptoms when standing up (called orthostatic intolerance). This study tested whether compression stockings—tight socks that squeeze the legs—could help. Researchers found that when ME/CFS patients wore compression stockings during a standing test, their heart pumped blood more effectively and their brain received better blood flow compared to when they wore regular socks.
This is the first study providing objective hemodynamic evidence that compression stockings—a low-cost, accessible intervention—may improve cardiovascular and cerebral perfusion in ME/CFS patients with orthostatic intolerance. These findings validate patient-reported symptom improvements and suggest a potential physiological mechanism, supporting further investigation of compression therapy as a treatment strategy.
This study does not establish that compression stockings improve long-term clinical outcomes, quality of life, or exercise tolerance in ME/CFS patients. It does not prove causation between improved hemodynamics and symptom relief, nor does it determine whether these hemodynamic changes translate to sustained clinical benefit outside the laboratory setting. The small sample size limits generalizability to all ME/CFS patients with orthostatic intolerance.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
van Campen, C Linda M C, Rowe, Peter C, & Visser, Frans C (2021). Compression Stockings Improve Cardiac Output and Cerebral Blood Flow during Tilt Testing in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial.. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania). https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58010051
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-campen-2021-compression-stockings,
author = {van Campen, C Linda M C and Rowe, Peter C and Visser, Frans C},
title = {Compression Stockings Improve Cardiac Output and Cerebral Blood Flow during Tilt Testing in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial.},
journal = {Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.3390/medicina58010051},
note = {PubMed: 35056360},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2021-compression-stockings},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2021-compression-stockings
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