Background: Compression is a common therapy for management of chronic disease, including oedema of the lower limb. Modern compression interventions exert pressure on the lower limb through use of one or more materials which exert pressure against the limb over time. Where these materials are textiles, they range from elastic to inelastic, and are produced using knitting, weaving, or other textile technologies which can be manipulated to control performance properties. Thus, understanding of both the materials/textiles and the human body is needed if the most appropriate compression device and treatment strategy is to be used. Neither is independent of the other. This review aims to enhance understanding of critical textile performance properties and how selection of textiles may affect treatment efficacy when managing chronic oedema of the lower limb.
Method: Relevant papers for review were identified via PubMed Central® library, and Google Scholar using keywords associated with textile-based treatments of the oedematous lower limb and wider interdisciplinary factors.
Results: Assessment of the disorder, the severity of oedema, and location of fluid accumulation are required to inform treatment of chronic oedema. While the need to understand the patient is well established (e.g. age, sex, body mass index, skin thickness and colour, patient compliance with treatment), information about preferred compression systems and material structures, and inherent properties of these, is generally lacking.
Conclusion: Greater detail about materials used (e.g. fabric structure, number and order of layers, fibre content) and patient diagnosis (e.g. underlying cause, severity, location of oedema; patient age and sex; evidence of compliance with treatment; pressure exerted; lower leg shape, size, and properties of the tissue) is needed to facilitate advances in efficacy of compression treatment. Reduced limb swelling with a textile-based treatment occurs simultaneously with changes to the textile itself. Textiles cannot be considered inert.
Keywords: Chronic oedema; compression textiles; compression therapy; human anthropometry.