Lower-body positive pressure diminishes surface blood flow reactivity during treadmill walking

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Blood flow during standing still and walking. During standing still, significant increase in blood flow is found in the forehead with increasing LBPP (a ANOVA, p = .011). Post hoc comparisons shows significant differences in 0 vs. 5 kPa and 0 vs. 6.7 kPa (a Tukey–Kramer, p = .04 and p = .02 respectively). As for the thigh, difference in blood flow is not significant (b ANOVA, p = .256). During walking, significant decrease in blood flow is found in the forehead and the thigh with increasing LBPP (c, d ANOVA, p = .021, p = .001, respectively). In the forehead, trend and difference in blood flow are found in 0 vs. 5 kPa and 0 and 6.7 kPa (c Tukey–Kramer, p = .056, and p = .03, respectively). For the thigh, significant differences in blood flow are found in 0 vs. 5 kPa and 0 vs. 6.7 kPa (d Tukey–Kramer, p = .01, p = .001, respectively). As for the calf and the instep, differences in blood flows with increasing pressure are not significant both during standing still (e, f p > .05) and walking (g, h p > .3)

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  Fig. 2. Comparisons of the slopes of the blood flow change. The forehead shows significant effect with changing postures (stand/walk). Also, significant interaction for posture × pressure is observed (a two-way ANOVA, p < .001 for both). For the thigh, significant effect with changing postures are observed. The thigh also shows significant interaction for posture × pressure (b two-way ANOVA, p < .001 for both). The calf and the instep show significant effects with changing postures (c, d two-way ANOVA, p < .001 for both); however, interactions for posture × pressure are not significant (c, d two-way ANOVA, p > .3 for both)

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  Fig. 3. Extent of blood flow increase at the onset of the walking. In the forehead, the blood flow under 5 kPa and 6.7 kPa are significantly different from 0 kPa (a p < .001 for both). Also, in the thigh, significant differences in blood flow are found for 5 kPa and 6.7 kPa than for 0 kPa (b p < .001 for both). For the calf and the instep, no significant differences in blood flow are observed depending on applied pressure (c, d p > .05 for both) (ANOVA, Tukey–Kramer). BF blood flow; increase = Wwlking − standing