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Acute physiological responses to combined blood flow restriction and low-level laser

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Abstract

Purpose

Blood flow restriction (BFR) is an innovation in fitness to train muscles with low loads at low oxygen levels. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a bio-energetic approach to alleviate muscle fatigue during resistance training. This study investigated the immediate effect of LLLT pre-conditioning on BFR that accelerates muscle fatigue due to ischemia.

Methods

Fifteen young adults participated in this study of a crossover randomized design. They completed a low-load contraction with various pre-conditioning (blood flow restriction with low-level laser therapy (LLLT + BFR), blood flow restriction with sham low-level laser therapy (BFR), and control). Force fluctuation dynamics, muscle oxygen saturation of hemoglobin and myoglobin (SmO2), and discharge patterns of motor units (MU) were compared.

Results

Normalized SmO2 during low-load contractions significantly varied with the pre-contraction protocols (Control (83.6 ± 3.0%) > LLLT + BFR (70.3 ± 2.8%) > BFR (55.4 ± 2.4%). Also, force fluctuations and MU discharge varied with the pre-contraction protocols. Multi-scale entropy and mean frequency of force fluctuations were greater in the LLLT + BFR condition (31.95 ± 0.67) than in the BFR condition (29.47 ± 0.73). The mean inter-spike interval of MUs was greater in the LLLT + BFR condition (53.32 ± 2.70 ms) than in the BFR condition (45.04 ± 1.08 ms). In particular, MUs with higher recruitment thresholds exhibited greater LLLT-related discharge complexity (LLLT + BFR (0.201 ± 0.012) > BFR (0.154 ± 0.006)).

Conclusions

LLLT pre-conditioning can minimize the BFR-related decline in muscle oxygen saturation, leading to force gradation and MU discharge in a cost-effective and complex manner.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BFR:

Blood flow restriction

DSDC:

Decomposition-synthesis-decomposition-compare

EMG:

Electromyography

HT:

Higher threshold

ISI:

Inter-spike intervals

ISI_CV:

Coefficient of variation for inter-spike intervals

ISI_CVGAV :

Grand average of ISI CV

IR:

Irregularity index

LLLT:

Low-level laser therapy

LT:

Lower threshold

m-N-pre-contraction SmO2 :

Mean value of normalized SmO2 during the pre-contraction period

m-N-contraction test SmO2 :

Mean value of normalized SmO2 during the contraction test

MF:

Mean frequency

M-ISI:

Mean inter-spike interval

MSE:

Multi-scale entropy

MU:

Motor unit

MUAP:

Motor unit action potential

MUAPT:

Motor unit action potential train

MVC:

Maximum voluntary contraction

N-pre-contraction SmO2 :

Normalized SmO2 during the pre-contraction period

N-contraction test SmO2 :

Normalized SmO2 during the contraction test

NOS:

Nitric oxide synthase

RM:

Repetition maximum

RMS:

Root mean square

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RNS:

Reactive nitrogen species

SampEn:

Sample entropy

SmO2 :

Muscle oxygen saturation

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Funding

This research was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C., under Grants No. MOST 107-2410-H-040-009-MY2.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

I.S.H. and Y.C.C. conceived and designed research. Y.H.S. conducted experiments. C.C.H. and Y.T.L. contributed analytical tools. Y.H.S. and I.S.H. analyzed data. I.S.H. and Y.C.C. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ing-Shiou Hwang.

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Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital, Taiwan., No. A-ER-107-061) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Communicated by Toshio Moritani.

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Chen, YC., Su, YH., Lin, YT. et al. Acute physiological responses to combined blood flow restriction and low-level laser. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 1437–1447 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04378-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04378-6

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