Well I think that's their official name I'm not sure...but readilly available at some chemist stores I guess....or at least at places that sell physio stuff etc...
Believe me they are very comfortable to wear...bit of a pain to get on the first time as its virtually made of elastic material, you put them on and they come up to the knee...then you can put on your normal socks and there you are no one will know or see your compression socks unless you lift the bottom of your uniform pants half way up your leg and you can see the sock....
I've got white ones, but they come in black as well and other colours, but they are nice to wear and at the end of a hard day when you get them off you can feel that they have been doing their job well....people who have bad cases of Varicose Veins they wear them all the time...but I think for pilots its just while flying, as on the ground you get exercise and good circulation with plenty of O2...
Another factor of DVT is lack of Oxygen....sitting at a cabin altitude of 6500 ft all day.... some good deep breaths out of the mask it seems will also prevent DVT.... compression socks prevent pooling in your legs below the knees...I have a tendency to sit for quite a long time without even moving a leg muscle, then have to make a consceous effort to move myself around, to get blood circulating...
I'll do some reaserch and find out the physics behind it and post it.....the NHS put out a flyer on DVT its excellent, the DVT department at a hospital should have one, "there must be a simpler way of Avoiding DVT" its called.....
