Physiological and perceptual responses to acute arm cranking with blood flow restriction

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-24-2023

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Lower-body aerobic exercise with blood flow restriction (BFR) offers a unique approach for stimulating improvements in muscular function and aerobic capacity. While there are more than 40 reports documenting acute and chronic responses to lower-body aerobic exercise with BFR, responses to upper-body aerobic exercise with BFR are not clearly established. PURPOSE: We evaluated acute physiological and perceptual responses to arm cranking with and without BFR. METHODS: Participants (N = 10) completed 4 arm cranking (6 × 2 min exercise, 1 min recovery) conditions: low-intensity at 40%VO (LI), low-intensity at 40%VO with BFR at 50% of arterial occlusion pressure (BFR50), low-intensity at 40%VO with BFR at 70% of arterial occlusion pressure (BFR70), and high-intensity at 80%VO (HI) while tissue oxygenation, cardiorespiratory, and perceptual responses were assessed. RESULTS: During exercise, tissue saturation for BFR50 (54  ±  6%), BFR70 (55  ±  6%), and HI (54  ±  8%) decreased compared to LI (61  ±  5%, all P <  0.01) and changes in deoxyhemoglobin for BFR50 (11  ±  4), BFR70 (15  ±  6), and HI (16  ±  10) increased compared to LI (4  ±  2, all P  <  0.01). During recovery intervals, tissue saturation for BFR50 and BFR70 decreased further and deoxyhemoglobin for BFR50 and BFR70 increased further (all P  <  0.04). Heart rate for BFR70 and HI increased by 9  ±  9 and 50  ±  15 b/min, respectively, compared to LI (both P <  0.02). BFR50 (8  ±  2 , 1.0  ±  1.0) and BFR70 (10  ±  2, 2.1  ±  1.4) elicited greater arm-specific perceived exertion (6-20 scale) and pain (0-10 scale) compared to LI (7  ±  1, 0.2  ±  0.5, all P < 0.05) and pain for BFR70 did not differ from HI (1.7 ±  1.9). CONCLUSION: Arm cranking with BFR decreased tissue saturation and increased deoxyhemoglobin without causing excessive cardiorespiratory strain and pain.

Publication Title

European journal of applied physiology

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