The performance of micro- and macro-diversity based combining for indoor wearable communications at 5.8 GHz has been empirically evaluated using diversity gain. The virtual diversity system utilized four spatially separated base stations, with each of the base stations availing of two micro-diversity branches. To combine the received signal power, we considered maximum ratio combining (MRC) at the micro-level (i.e. at each base station), while pure selection combining (PSC) was used at the macro-level to switch between the best performing base stations. Two different wearable positions were considered, namely the front central-chest and right wrist regions. It was found that using macro-diversity in isolation continuously realized a greater diversity gain than that offered by micro-diversity. Moreover, using cascaded MRC and PSC stages provided worthwhile signal improvements, with up to 14.6 dB of diversity gain achievable.