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                                                              Veins and Lymphatics 2017; volume 6:6621

                                       [Veins and Lymphatics 2017; 6:6621]                                                          [page 1]

Hysteresis and medical 
compression bandage 
and stockings
André Cornu-Thenard,1 Pascal Jollivet2
1St. Antoine Hospital, Paris; 
2P-F Medical Devices, Toulouse, France

Introduction
The word hysteresis comes from the

Greek husteros, which means lagging
behind. 

We can observe it in natural phenomena
like electricity and magnetism.

Hysteresis is a well-understood phe-
nomenon in relation to medical compres-
sion bandages (MCB), but remains poorly
studied regarding medical compression
stockings (MCS).

Materials and Methods
Two different MCB (long-stretch and

short-stretch) and three MCS were used for
this in vitro experiment.

Compression measurements were taken
using a French dynamometer. Therefore this
enabled comparison of the hysteresis curves
to be studied.

Results
As it is known short-stretch bandage

produces a concave curve. As it is not very
well-known Long-stretch bandage produces
a convex curve. 

The curve obtained with the MCS is
also convex, relatively similar to that
obtained with the long-stretch bandage. As
stretching starts the pressure increases very
fast. Then the pressure decreases for
becoming nearly horizontal. 

Pressure and resistance (the in vitro
stiffness) can be obtained at any point on
this curve.

Discussion and Conclusions
For MCB, more precise studies should

be performed taking into account the num-
ber of turns applied. However theses results
support previous studies by demonstrating
the convex hysteresis curve contour for
long-stretch bandages recently described in
the literature. 

For MCS, Hysteresis curves give the
relationship between the size of MCS (or
patient ankle perimeter in cm) and pressure
delivered, i.e. the correct dosage for a given
situation.1-3

So: i) correct prescription of stockings
would be facilitated if manufacturers would
provide the hysteresis curves for each of
their stocking’s model; ii) such measures

would also help avoid the use of compres-
sion class systems, which vary significantly
from country to country.

References 

1. Van Geest AJ, Veraart JC, et al. The
effect of MCS with different slope val-
ues on edema. Dermatol Surg
2000;26:244-7.

2. Partsch H, Clark M, et al.
Measurements of lower leg compres-
sion in vivo. Dermatol Surg
2006;32:229-38.

3. Cornu-Thenard A, Benigni JP, Uhl JF.
Terminology: resistance or stiffness for
MCS. Veins and Lymphatics 2013;2:e4. 

Correspondence: André Cornu-Thenard, St.
Antoine Hospital, Paris, France; Pascal
Jollivet, P-F Medical Devices, Toulouse,
France. 
E-mail: andre.cornuthenard@wanadoo.fr;
pascal.jollivet@pierre-fabre.com

This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 License (by-nc 4.0).

©Copyright A. Cornu-Thenard and P. Jollivet et al., 2017
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Veins and Lymphatics 2017; 6:6621
doi:10.4081/vl.2017.6621

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