Upper and Lower-body Resistance Exercise With and Without Blood Flow Restriction on Pulse Wave Reflection

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Acute resistance exercise (RE) with blood flow restriction (BFR) on pulse wave reflection is unclear. PURPOSE: To evaluate the differences between acute upper-body RE (URE) and lower-body RE (LRE) with and without BFR on pulse wave reflection in resistance-trained individuals. METHODS: Pulse wave reflection was assessed at rest, and during recovery at 10 (R10), 25 (R25), 40 (R40), and 55 (R55) minutes after either URE or LRE with or without BFR in twelve resistance-trained individuals. The URE consisted of the lat pulldown and chest press while the LRE consisted of knee extension and knee flexion. The BFR condition consisted of 4 set of 30, 15, 15, and 15 repetitions at 30% 1-repetition maximum (1RM) while the non-BFR condition consisted of 4 sets of 8 repetitions at 70% 1RM. A 2x2x3 repeated measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the effect of group across conditions and time on pulse wave reflection. RESULTS: There were no differences for any variable between conditions. There were significant group by time interactions for brachial systolic blood pressure (BSBP), brachial diastolic blood pressure (BDBP), aortic systolic blood pressure (ASBP), and aortic diastolic blood pressure (ADBP) such that BSBP (rest: 120±9mmHg, R10: URE: 115±12mmHg, LRE:126±8mmHg; p<0.001) and ASBP (rest: 104±8mmHg, R10: URE: 102±10mmHg, LRE:109±8mmHg; p=0.005) were increased at R10 from LRE compared to URE and rest, with no difference from rest to R25, R40, or R55. BDBP (rest: 64±7mmHg, R10: URE: 60±6mmHg, LRE:67±6mmHg, p=0.001; R25: URE: 62±5mmHg, LRE:67±7mmHg, p<0.001) and ADBP (rest: 65±7mmHg, R10: URE: 60±6mmHg, LRE:69±6mmHg, p≤0.001; R25: URE: 63±5mmHg, LRE:69±7mmHg, p<0.001) were elevated at R10 and R25 from LRE compared to URE and rest, and no difference at R40 or R55. There were significant group by time interactions for augmentation index (AIx) (rest: 13.3±9.8%, R10: URE: 26.4±10.5%, LRE: 15.7±8.4%; p<0.001) and AIx normalized to 75bpm (rest: 3.7±11.7%, R10: URE: 25.4±14.0%, LRE: 15.8±13.5%; p=0.001) such that they were increased at R10 from URE compared to LRE and rest, and were fully recovered by R25. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that LRE significantly elevated blood pressure more so than URE, and that URE significantly increased pulse wave reflection more than LRE, regardless of whether they were completed with or without BFR.