Date of Award

Summer 2019

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

School

Kinesiology and Nutrition

Committee Chair

Matthew Jessee

Committee Chair School

Kinesiology and Nutrition

Committee Member 2

Daniel Credeur

Committee Member 2 School

Kinesiology and Nutrition

Committee Member 3

Stephanie McCoy

Committee Member 3 School

Kinesiology and Nutrition

Abstract

Resistance exercise with blood flow restriction (BFR) has been suggested to exaggerate the exercise pressor response over traditional non-BFR exercise. While applying BFR relative to an individual’s arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) and exercising at low-loads seems to produce a comparable cardiovascular response to traditional moderate or high-load training, it is beneficial to identify modifications for reducing the cardiovascular response to BFR exercise. PURPOSE: To determine if unilateral (UNI), bilateral (BI), or alternating (ALT) exercise modalities elicit different cardiovascular responses during BFR exercise. METHODS: 18 participants (13 male and 5 female) performed four sets of UNI, BI, and ALT knee-extensions at 30% one-repetition maximum and 40% AOP. Pulse wave analysis was measured before and after exercise. Data were analyzed using Bayesian RMANOVA and presented as mean (SD). RESULTS: Changes in aortic systolic blood pressure, aortic diastolic blood pressure, and aortic mean arterial pressure were greater following ALT. Changes in aortic rate pressure product [ALT = 4873 (2479) mmHg * bpm, UNI = 3243 (1482) mmHg * bpm, BI = 3308 (1449) mmHg * bpm] were also higher following ALT. The volume of work performed was greater in ALT [ALT = 1946 (1787) kg, UNI = 945 (313) kg, BI = 918 (319) kg]. CONCLUSION: Given the greater cardiovascular response following alternating BFR exercise in healthy individuals, those at an increased risk of a cardiovascular event should instead choose unilateral or bilateral BFR exercise until further work is done to determine the degree to which this modality can be tolerated.

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