Key result
Low-intensity cycling with electrical muscle stimulation reduces ba-PWV similarly to moderate-intensity cycling in healthy men.
Why the study?
Endurance exercise reduces arterial stiffness, but individuals with low fitness or painful leg diseases cannot perform sustained moderate-intensity exercise, motivating evaluation of cycling combined with electrical muscle stimulation.
Does acute low-intensity cycling combined with electrical muscle stimulation reduce arterial stiffness in healthy adult men?
RCT (n=10)
Open-label
Randomized crossover
No
Does acute low-intensity cycling combined with electrical muscle stimulation reduce arterial stiffness in healthy adult men?
p-value: p=<0.05
Acute low-intensity cycling combined with electrical muscle stimulation reduces arterial stiffness to a similar extent as moderate-intensity cycling, offering a potential exercise alternative for individuals with low physical fitness.
May offer accessible arterial stiffness reduction for low-fitness adults; extends acute EMS benefits to combined cycling.
Endurance exercises, such as cycling or running, are useful for reducing arterial stiffness. However, individuals with a low physical fitness level, or patients suffering from leg diseases with pain, are unable to perform such moderate-intensity lower-limb exercises for long periods of time. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute cycling with Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) on the brachial to ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV). Ten healthy adult men performed 3 sessions, as follows of 20 min: cycling at 50% VO2max (C), cycling at an intensity of 50%VO2max subtracted from VO2 during EMS (LC), and cycling at the intensity of the LC trial while also being combined with EMS (LC+E). The ba-PWV was measured before and after each exercise. In addition, the femoral artery blood flow (BF) was measured in eight healthy adult men before and after exercise using an ultrasound imaging system. In the C and LC+E trials, the ba-PWV significantly decreased immediately after the exercise session, whereas the ba-PWV did not significantly change following the LC trial in any session. Compared with the baseline, the femoral artery BF values significantly increased after all trials. In the C and LC+E trials, the femoral artery BF was significantly greater than that in the LC trial. Acute endurance low-intensity cycling with EMS results in a reduction in the arterial stiffness which is similar to that with moderate-intensity exercise.
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Nishimura et al. (2023) conducted an RCT in Healthy adult men (n=10). Low-intensity cycling with electrical muscle stimulation (LC+E) vs. Moderate-intensity cycling (C) and low-intensity cycling (LC) was evaluated on Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) (p=<0.05). Acute low-intensity cycling combined with electrical muscle stimulation significantly reduced brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity similarly to moderate-intensity cycling in healthy adult men.
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