Korean J Sports Med.  2024 Mar;42(1):38-45. 10.5763/kjsm.2024.42.1.38.

Effects of Isometric Handgrip Exercise on Carotid Arterial Function and Cardiovascular Vasoreactivity Response to Sympathetic Stress in Young Adults

• Kim YW
• Seong JY
• Min HJ
• Choi TG
• Jung YJ
• Cho MJ
• Kim HJ
• Jae SY

• KMID: 2553555
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5763/kjsm.2024.42.1.38

Abstract

Purpose
Isometric handgrip exercise (IHE) has a favorable cardiovascular effect and improves hemodynamic responses. Whether IHE attenuates stress-related hemodynamic reactivity assessed during a sympathetic challenge remains unexplored. We tested the hypothesis that an acute bout of IHE would improve carotid arterial function and attenuate cardiovascular vasoreactivity response to sympathetic stress in healthy adults.
Methods
In a randomized cross-over design, sixteen healthy adults (aged 21.8±3.1 years) were enrolled. Participants completed two testing sessions, separated by 1 week. Trials were either a control trial or performed IHE for two sets of 2 minutes at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction for each hand. The participant’s hand was immersed in an ice water bath (4 ℃ ) up to the wrist for 2 minutes. Carotid artery diameter, β-stiffness index, and compliance using ultrasound machine and brachial blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) were measured as indices of vasoreactivity at baseline, during, and recovery from cold pressor testing (CPT).
Results
The BP, HR, carotid artery diameter, and β-stiffness index increased similarly during CPT in both trials (p＜ 0.001), without any interaction effect. Compared with the IHE trial, arterial compliance decreased in the control groups at 120 seconds during recovery with a significant interaction effect (p=0.02).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that an acute IHE did not attenuate BP, HR, carotid artery diameter and β-stiffness index vasoreactivity, but improved carotid artery compliance to sympathetic activation in healthy young adults.

Keyword

Exercise; Carotid arteries; Cardiovascular; Vasoreactivity

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Experimental design. CON: control, IHE: isometric handgrip exercise, CPT: cold pressor test.

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  Fig. 2 Blood pressure reactivity and recovery in response to cold pressor test. CON: control, IHE: isometric handgrip exercise, CPT: cold pressor test, Rec: recovery, SBP: systolic blood pressure, DBP: diastolic blood pressure. *p<.05 vs baseline.

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  Fig. 3 Carotid diameter reactivity and recovery in response to cold pressor test. max: maximum, min: minimum, CON: control, IHE: isometric handgrip exercise, CPT: cold pressor test, Rec: recovery. *p<.05 vs baseline.

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