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Passive trunk stretching using an exercise ball. A Trunk flexion, B trunk extension, C trunk lateral bending, D rotation of trunk
Source publication
Purpose
Acute or regular stretching exercises reduce arterial stiffness, but whether stretching exercises per se can reduce central arterial stiffness remain controversial. Recent studies have suggested that mechanical stimulation of arteries can directly modulate arterial stiffness, rather than causing systemic effects. Thus, this study aimed to e...
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[Purpose] Reports suggest that static stretching, which improves body flexibility, could reduce arterial stiffness. Regular training using an exercise ball would increase flexibility in a different manner, compared to that from static stretching; however, it remains unclear whether such exercise can reduce arterial stiffness. This study aimed to cl...
Citations
... Interventional studies evaluating the effects of chronic stretching on AS are sparse (Do-Jin and Jong-Hyuck 2019; Nishiwaki et al. 2015;Shinno et al. 2017;Wong and Figueroa 2014), and findings from these investigations should be interpreted with caution owing to small sample sizes, limited methodological quality (i.e., lacking a control group), and heterogenous AS measures. However, a recent investigation demonstrated that acute trunk stretching reduces AS in young, healthy males, indexed by the gold-standard carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) (Ikebe et al. 2022). Notably, females were omitted, and the acute effects of trunk stretching on AS and BP in middle-aged and older adults at an increased risk for CVD remain unclear (Fig. 1). ...
... To guide the researcher's (KW) provision of passive assistance, participants rated the intensity of each stretching using the Perceived Stretch Intensity (PSI) scale (0-10; 0 = no stretch, 10 = maximal stretch, and maximal discomfort), and each stretch was capped at a PSI rating of 7 indicating a maximized stretch and joint excursion without the perception of pain. Six passively assisted stretches were performed as described previously (Ikebe et al. 2022): 1-prone trunk flexion, 2-supine trunk extension, 3 and 4-left and right lateral flexion, and 5 and 6-left and right standing trunk rotation. The stretch with which each participant began the sequence was randomized to mitigate a potential order effect. ...
... 4 Separate linear mixed-effect models examined the interaction of visit (stretch vs. control) and sex (females: pink circles vs. males: blue circles) on changes in carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (∆cf-PWV) and changes in augmentation index normalized to a heart rate of 75 beats per minutes (∆AIx75) controlling for baseline. A ∆cf-PWV without controlling for change in mean arterial pressure (∆MAP) and B ∆AIx75 p < α set at 0.05 young males Ikebe et al. (2022) reported following the same passively assisted acute trunk stretching sequence. Likewise, Logan et al. (2018) reported no effect of 30 min of wholebody stretching on brachial BP in middle-aged females, but no comparative time-matched control was considered. ...
Purpose
We examined the effects of acute trunk stretching on central arterial stiffness and central and peripheral blood pressure in middle-aged to older adults.
Methods
Twenty-eight middle-aged to older adults (14M/14F, 72 ± 7 years, 28.5 ± 5.3 kg/m²) completed this randomized, controlled, crossover design trial. We measured carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) and central and peripheral blood pressures (BP) before and after a single bout of passively assisted trunk stretching (i.e., five rounds of six 30-s stretches) and a time-matched seated control visit (i.e., 30-min). Changes (Δ; post − pre) in cf-PWV and central and peripheral BP were compared between visits and sexes using separate linear mixed-effects models controlling for baseline values.
Results
Compared with seated control, central (systolic: − 3 ± 7 mmHg; diastolic: − 2 ± 5 mmHg) and peripheral (systolic: − 2 ± 8 mmHg; diastolic: − 1 ± 4 mmHg) BP were reduced following acute trunk stretching (ps ≤ 0.001). Between-visit differences for ∆cf-PWV (stretch: 0.09 ± 0.61 m/s; control: 0.37 ± 0.68 m/s, p = 0.038) were abolished when controlling for change in mean arterial pressure (∆MAP) (p = 0.687). The main effects of sex were detected for changes in systolic BPs (ps ≤ 0.029); more males (n = 13) saw BP reductions than females (n = 7).
Conclusion
These findings demonstrate the superiority of acute trunk stretching over passive sitting of equated duration for BP in middle-aged to older adults, with an appreciable effect in males compared to females.
... All analyses were performe using SPSS version 28.0 (IBM SPSS Japan, Tokyo, Japan). With respect to the arterial stiffness measures, ES (dz) was calculated between the values of interest using G � Power version 3.1 [24,25]. ...
Acute mental stress (MS) induces a transient increase in arterial stiffness. We verified whether a single bout of bench step (BS) exercise for 3 minutes counteracts acute MS-induced arterial stiffening. Fifteen healthy young men (mean age, 21.7 ± 0.3 years) underwent two experimental trials: rest (RE) and exercise (EX) trials. Following a 5-minute MS task, the participants in the RE trial rested on a chair for 3 minutes (from 10 to 13 minutes after task cessation), whereas those in the EX trial performed the BS exercise for the same duration. The heart-brachial pulse wave velocity (PWV) (hbPWV), brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV), heart-ankle PWV (haPWV), and the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) were measured at baseline and at 5 and 30 minutes after the task. In both trials, significant increases in hbPWV, haPWV, and CAVI occurred at 5 minutes after the task; these elevations persisted until 30 minutes after the task in the RE trial, but significantly decreased to baseline levels in the EX trial. baPWV was significantly elevated at 30 minutes after the task in the RE trial, but not in the EX trial. This study reveals that a 3-minute BS exercise offsets acute MS-induced arterial stiffening.
Purpose: Acute (immediate) or regular (mid- or long-term) stretching increases arterial compliance and reduces arterial stiffness. Stretching is widely known to induce arterial functional factor changes, but it is unclear whether stretching alters arterial structural factors. Ultrasound shear wave elastography can quantify the distribution of tissue elastic properties as an index of arterial structural factors. This study thus aimed to examine the effects of acute cervical stretching on arterial wall tissue elastic properties.
Methods: Seventeen healthy young adults participated in two different trials for 15 min in random order on separate days: a resting and sitting trial (CON) and a supervised cervical stretching trial (CS). In CS, subjects performed 10 different stretches. At each site, the stretch was held for 30 s followed by a 10-s relaxation period. In CON, subjects rested on a chair for 15 min.
Results: After the experiment, carotid arterial compliance, assessed by combined ultrasound imaging and applanation tonometry, was significantly increased in CS, but not in CON. However, there was no significant change in tissue elasticity properties of the arterial wall in either trial, as assessed by ultrasound shear wave elastography.
Conclusion: Acute cervical stretching significantly increased carotid artery compliance in young participants, but did not reduce elastic tissue properties ( i.e. , arterial structural factors) of the carotid artery wall. These results strongly suggest that changes in structural factors have little relation to stretching-induced acute increases in arterial compliance.
Objective: To examine the acute arterial stiffness changes after maintaining one bout of balance on Swiss ball using different postures in young and middle-aged adults, and to evaluate the cumulative exposure effects on arterial stiffness after multiple exercise bouts in middle-aged adults.
Methods: Using crossover design, we first enrolled 22 young adults (24.0 ± 1.1 years) and randomized them to non-exercise control (CON), on-ball balance exercise trial lasting 1 × 5 min in kneeling posture (K1) and sitting posture (S1). In a following crossover experiment, 19 middle-aged adults (53.0 ± 4.7 years) were randomized to non-exercise control (CON), on-ball balance exercise trial lasting 1 × 5 min in kneeling posture (K1) and in sitting posture (S1), and on-ball balance exercise trial lasting 2 × 5 min in kneeling posture (K2) and in sitting posture (S2). Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), an indicator of systemic arterial stiffness, was measured at baseline (BL), immediately after (0 min), and every 10 min after exercise. CAVI changes from BL in the same trial (⊿CAVI) were used for analysis.
Results: In K1 trial, ⊿CAVI decreased significantly at 0 min ( p < 0.05) in both young and middle-aged adults; however in S1 trial, ⊿CAVI at 0 min increased significantly in young adults ( p < 0.05), with ⊿CAVI tending to increase in middle-aged adults. Bonferroni post-test revealed that at 0 min, ⊿CAVI of K1 in both young and middle-aged adults, and ⊿CAVI of S1 in young adults differed significantly from that of CON ( p < 0.05). In middle-aged adults, ⊿CAVI decreased significantly at 10 min compared to BL in K2 trial ( p < 0.05), and increased at 0 min compared to BL in S2 trial ( p < 0.05); however, difference compared to CON was not significant.
Conclusion: Single on-ball balance bout in kneeling posture improved arterial stiffness transiently in both young and middle-aged adults; however, sitting posture elicited opposite changes, and this happened only in young adults. Multiple balance bouts resulted in no significant change in arterial stiffness in middle-aged adults.
