Blood Flow during Graded, Submaximal Static Handgrip Exercise at Different Intensities in Elderly and Young Women

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify whether blood fl ow response in submaximal exercise differed between young and elderly women. Twelve elderly women (mean age: 67.3 yrs) and 15 young women (mean age: 21.6 yrs) performed static handgrip exercises. The experiment comprised two periods of incremental 30 seconds of static handgrip exercise between a 30 second recovery period. The initial load was 1kg, and the second load was increased to 2kg and thereafter it was increased by 2kg until 10kg was reached. The blood velocity (Doppler ultrasound methods) and diameter (B-mode ultrasound methods) of brachial artery and blood pressure (Finapres) were measured. Blood fl ow immediately after exercise at 6-10kg in elderly women was signifi cantly (p<0.05) higher than in younger women. Similarly, the regression slope of blood fl ow in incremental load in elderly was signifi cantly (p<0.05) higher than in younger women. However, when the load was standardized by maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), the regression slopes of blood fl ow in incremental load did not differ between elderly and young women. The result indicates that blood fl ow response to submaximal handgrip exercise at a given fraction of MVC in elderly was maintained at similar levels to younger women when the exercise intensity was limited to low and moderate levels.