Assessment of Exercise Stroke Volume and Its Prediction From Oxygen Pulse in Paralympic Athletes With Locomotor Impairments: Cardiac Long-Term Adaptations Are Possible

Abstract

The determinants of cardiac output (CO) during exercise, i.e., stroke volume (SV) and heart rate (HR), could differ in Paralympic athletes (PAthl) with spinal cord injury (SCI) with respect to PAthl with locomotor impairments caused by different health conditions (HCs). The purposes of the present study were the comparisons of two groups of PAthl, one with SCI and the other with either amputation (AMP) or post poliomyelitis syndrome (PM), assessing the (1) peak cardiorespiratory responses and determinants (SV and HR) of CO during maximal and submaximal arm cranking exercise (ACE), respectively; (2) correlations between peak oxygen uptake (VO 2peak) and the highest SV obtained during submaximal exercise; and (3) correlations between oxygen pulse (O 2 pulse, ratio between VO 2 and HR) and both SV and O 2 arterio-venous difference [(a-v)O 2 diff]. Each athlete (19 PAthl with SCI, 9 with AMP, and 5 with PM) completed a continuous incremental cardiopulmonary ACE test to volitional fatigue to assess peak responses. In a different session, CO was indirectly measured through carbon dioxide (CO 2) rebreathing method at sub-maximal exercise intensities approximating 30, 50, and 70% of the VO 2peak. There were no significant differences between the PAthl groups in age, anthropometry, and VO 2peak. However, peak HR was significantly lower, and peak O 2 pulse was significantly higher in PAthl with AMP/PM compared to those with SCI. During sub-maximal exercise, PAthl with AMP/PM displayed significantly higher SV values (154.8 ± 17.60 ml) than PAthl with SCI (117.1 ± 24.66 ml). SV correlated significantly with VO 2peak in both PAthl with SCI (R 2 = 0.796) and AMP/PM (R 2 = 0.824). O 2 pulse correlated significantly with SV in both PAthl with SCI (R 2 = 0.888) and AMP/PM (R 2 = 0.932) and in the overall sample (R 2 = 0.896). No significant correlations were observed between O 2 pulse and (a-v)O 2 diff. It was concluded that in PAthl with different Bernardi et al.

Effects of a Tailored Physical Activity Intervention on Cardiovascular Structure and Function in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury

“…Though we were unable to perform echocardiography during arm-crank exercise, the PA group had increased peak O 2pulse at postintervention. Given that O 2pulse is a validated and reliable measure of SV during exercise in able-bodied individuals and SCI, 46 it is possible that the PA intervention facilitated improved cardiac responses to exercise in the current study. Future research should consider assessing the cardiovascular responses to physiological stressors, where possible, to better understand the potential benefits of PA interventions in SCI.…”

Comparison between the 10- and the 30-s-long Wingate Anaerobic Test in summer Paralympic athletes with a lower limb impairment

“…This study adopted a randomized 2-sequence (AB | BA), 2-tests (WAnT_30s vs. WAnT_10s) crossover design. At the beginning of the study, the 44 study participants were randomly assigned to one of the two sequences using the Wei's urn design, a randomization technique for balancing treatment assignments [48]. Participants randomized to the AB sequence performed a WAnT_30s and after a washout period of 1.5 h, a WAnT_10s.…”

Effect of Carbohydrate-Electrolyte Solution Including Bicarbonate Ion Ad Libitum Ingestion on Urine Bicarbonate Retention during Mountain Trekking: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study

“…It has been speculated that the acceleration of body fluid recovery with carbohydrate electrolyte solution could contribute to attenuating an increase in HR during climbing mountain, perhaps, due to maintain stroke volume [ 24 ]. Although no differences in body weight changes between the groups were observed, the EE (VO 2 )/HR as an indirect indicator of stroke volume [ 38 ] also demonstrated marginally higher values with CE+HCO 3 . These results may suggest that CE+HCO 3 ingestion could also be affective to accelerate body fluid recovery, leading to a maintenance of stroke volume, and resulting in an attenuation in the HR increases.…”