I'm standing at the end of a 100m track in the illustrious Australian Institute of Sport. But I'm not the one laced up. (Thank God.) Bounding towards me is 19-year-old long jumper Rodney Blair. Legs swathed in tight, black fabric, he makes the track look like it's made of steel springs. He runs past a dozen automated cameras on tripods, primed to catch his every movement.

This is a typical day in the biomechanics lab of the AIS, where athletes' subtlest movements are captured, fed into a computer and analysed by sports scientists in the hope of guarding against injuries and shaving seconds off Olympic records. But for someone like me, who only watches the equestrian events and thinks the pole vault is a sexual position, what I find intriguing is the gear Blair is wearing. Compression garments: elite athletes have been donning them for years, but the concept only recently gained momentum. First off the block in Australia and now market leader Skins is endorsed by sports stars like Brett Lee and Anna Meares, and from entire AFL teams to the Australian Physiotherapy Association. Now rival Aussie brand 2XU (pronounced "two times you"), established in 2005, is an official partner to the AIS. The company will be providing compression gear for up to 700 athletes at any one time during a three-year contract. And now adidas, ASICS and Nike are also jumping on the bandwagon.

THE LOW DOWN
Why would anyone willingly dress to look like they're going to a rubber fetish party? The brochures will tell you it's about "BioAcceleration Technology" and other doublespeak. Put simply, there are a few things that set compression apart from leggings. One is the weave - compression fabric usually has a circular or warp knit, which allows for stretch and easy return. And sturdier bands of fabric support major muscles. Researchers at France's University of Montpellier purport that these bands protect against muscle "oscillation" (read: jiggling). Dr Nick Brown, head of biomechanics at the AIS, agrees: "This oscillation could use up metabolic energy... if you can keep muscles still, you may conserve energy and lessen fatigue." The French study found a marathoner who normally clocks 3.5 hours could reach the finish line six minutes earlier in compression tights.

In a recent study, Australian Catholic University researcher Trevor Higgins had subjects play netball for an hour. Players hit the court three times, once wearing Skins, once in placebo (lycra) tights and once in regular exercise gear. They wore GPS trackers and Higgins found movement was faster when players wore the compression garments.

The biggest gain could be pain... reduction. The idea for Skins was conceived in the '90s by chiropractor and science geek Brad Duffy in the Aussie Alps. Duffy was determined to find a solution to muscle pain caused by skiing that could have greater applications for athletes. Now sports physiologists, like AIS recovery physiologist Dr Shona Halson, believe compression gear does ease soreness - particularly if worn after training. "The scientific studies are small, but there's a lot of anecdotal evidence," says Dr Halson. "Regardless of whether you're wearing compression garments or not, you'll still damage muscle fibres. But leaving compression on afterwards will reduce swelling and speed up recovery, which means you'll perform better next session."

In a study by the School of Sports and Exercise Science at the Waikato Institute of Technology in NZ, a group of 10 athletes wore compression gear while nine went without. Reports of pain in the compression group were lower than in the control group post-recovery.

SUIT UP, OR NOT?
But what if you're not pushing yourself to the point of pain? The Skins website suggests wearing compression "during any physical activity - whether a team or individual sport... or leisure pursuits like walking or gardening". Uh, yeah. "If you're not doing a huge amount of exercise, it isn't that important [to wear compression]," says Dr Halson.

"Having said that, the weekend warriors are the ones who get sore because they're not at a high level of fitness. If you push yourself to a point where you're sore, compression is a good idea. If you walk for 20 minutes a day, probably not."

Exercise physiologist Taryn Noble sees other benefits to the garb. "Compression garments would definitely improve proprioception, which, put simply, is your awareness of body positioning," she says. "This improves coordination and technique." And what about increased circulation, another claim made by compression-gear makers? "It makes sense considering the compression stockings used on planes, but I'd need to see the scientific studies," says Noble. "The stockings used on planes are of a higher grade of fabric."

Back at the AIS, Dr Halson gives me a tour of the recovery centre. She shows me the wet room with hot spas and icy plunge pools, which the athletes alternate between. "Cold water is actually a better compressive than any garment," she says. "There's a possibility of combining compression clothing and water to exacerbate results, but more research is needed." And that's what the AIS plans to do: large-scale research. Though any results will likely be kept under wraps to preserve "the athletic edge". One way we might know? The medal tally at London in 2012.