Imagine going to the doctor because of pain in your legs and being told to start wearing pantyhose. You might laugh, or stalk out in indignation, but the reality is that your doctor’s advice is sound. Male pantyhose can help many physical complaints of the leg.

Women have known for a long time that support hose feel good on their legs, and in fact support hose are what make it possible to spend the day on four-inch heels without crying. Why should women be the only ones to enjoy the benefits?

Male pantyhose are specially made for men, usually with a fly and proportions that fit the male anatomy properly. Most men who try on a pair are very surprised at how good they feel! Support hose are made with varying amounts of elastic to provide compression and support. Some makers even make graduated compression hose, where the degree of compression gradually decreases as the stockings rise toward the heart. This kind of hose helps the blood flow back up from the legs so they don’t swell and ache.

Other health benefits can be found in wearing male pantyhose. Men who have to sit for a long time have reported that wearing support hose helps make it more endurable. A transatlantic flight for example, is absolutely certain to leave your feet puffy and painful when you stumble off the plane. Support stockings with feet can make a huge difference, enabling you to collect your baggage and find a taxi without feeling like you’re walking on rubber legs and feet.

Men whose feet are perpetually cold will also benefit from wearing male stockings. They may not need to wear the complete pantyhose; perhaps just knee-high stocking would be sufficient to give their feet an extra layer of warmth under the socks and slacks. Stockings do provide a surprising amount of warmth, yet are so thin they don’t add a bulky layer that makes the shoes tight. Some stockings and male pantyhose can be found that are made with special thermal material that makes them even warmer. Men with Raynaud’s disease will especially benefit from wearing male pantyhose.

Fortunately, men don’t need to wait for a doctor to prescribe male pantyhose in order to wear them. Since many athletes have started wearing hose and tights, they are slowly becoming more and more socially acceptable. They are available without a prescription, and can be ordered online from the privacy of your own home.

Men have been wearing tights for centuries, and really only in the most recent century has there been a stigma associated with wearing tights for men.  Indeed, nowadays only athletes can get away with wearing them in public, and only when actually playing their sport.  Yet the benefits of wearing tights extend far beyond the playing field. For one thing, tights are arguably the most comfortable garment ever invented, as is evidenced by the fact that men have been wearing them for so long.

During the time of the Italian Renaissance, paintings from the early 16th century depict men wearing what appears to be the equivalent of pantyhose. Some men wore codpieces over their private parts; others wore close-fitting knee-length pants. This fashion makes sense actually, considering that riding horses was the main method of transportation in that era.

In the 17th century, the practice of wearing male stockings continued, were called “cannions.” The men wore “paned” or “pansied round hose” on top, which reached from the waist to about mid- to lower-thigh and were full at the bottom, close fitting at the top. As the century drew past its midpoint, the round hose turned into breeches, which ended just at the knee or just below it. The cannions became known as stockings and usually ended at the knee and were held up with garters that also held the breeches closed.
This fashion continued until the early 1800′s when breeches finally were replaced with trousers. It’s uncertain whether men continued to wear stockings under their trousers, perhaps for added warmth, or not. Regardless, the advent of the trouser spelled an end to the social acceptability of tights for men. Not even when swimming were men pictured in tights. Of course circus performers and ballet dancers wore tights, and even as late as the 1950′s saw boys in Europe wearing lederhosen, but as far as mainstream dressing goes, tights for men were gone.

After that, it’s extremely difficult to find any reference to a man wearing tights in public for any reason other than to dance on a stage, until 1979 when soccer player Keith Weller wore a pair of his wife’s tights during an FA Cup game because he was suffering from groin strain. Since then, more and more athletes have been wearing sport tights during game and practices, and if you stroll around a large city park in the autumn, you might see some men shooting hoops wearing tights for extra warmth.

As the fashion cycle rolls slowly around back to its beginning, tights for men are showing up on runways and in metropolitan areas, although it will take quite a while longer for men’s tights to become mainstream fashion again.

Pantyhose were introduced in this country in the women’s market circa 1959. However, there are now some companies who market male pantyhose, otherwise termed as “mantyhose”. Many men have found that pantyhose provide them solid support, although a lot of gentlemen today still prefer to wear them incognito, although not all.

There are those fellows who utilize male pantyhose when hunting, camping, or riding horses, the latter to reduce chafing. Also, some sports figures, such as football players, will sometimes wear them, particularly under their uniforms, when the weather is cold. Also, some scuba divers will don them, as protection from both jellyfish and cold waters. Then, too, there are the guys who wear them to relieve varicose veins or other circulatory problems. Of course, there are always those men who wear pantyhose because they enjoy cross dressing or fetishes.

So, there are now a number of companies who market openly to men. Frequently, a sales pitch here could include the desired qualities of comfort, compression, and energizing tired or painful leg muscles. Sheer comfort is often emphasized in these cases, with respect to male pantyhose.
In addition, when it comes to male pantyhose, one can find opaque, sheer, and various colors, as well as the tights variety. Some men’s nylons are also made of very substantial material, in order to assist with vein disorders like thrombosis and lymphedema.

Men or women buying for their men should consider some aspects during their purchases. To shave or not to shave? Remember that hairspray and clear nail polish may be employed to stop runs in mens hosiery, just as is the case with females and their pantyhose.

And for those men who are still resistant? Well, they can readily turn to history, for cases of men wearing pantyhose! For example, during the heyday of the Roman Empire, workers frequently wore pants as tight as any hosiery! And, during the Renaissance, men of all classes wore hose that were tighter than any pants. Generally, the tightest ones were often the most expensive, and considered also the most manly! Furthermore, women were never allowed to wear such garments. So, it’s actually safe to say that maybe the male pantyhose were around, long before those pantyhose designed specifically for females!