Lower-body positive pressure diminishes surface blood flow reactivity during treadmill walking.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the lower-body positive pressure on surface blood flow during standing still and treadmill walking to explore cardiovascular safety for application to rehabilitation treatment. Thirteen healthy volunteers participated in the experiment and surface blood flows were measured in the forehead, thigh, calf, and the top of the foot during standing still and walking under various pressure conditions (0 kPa, 5 kPa, and 6.7 kPa).


RESULTS
Lower-body positive pressure decreased the blood flow in the forehead and the thigh during walking (p < .05 for each), whereas an increasing trend in blood flow was observed during standing still (p < .05). Furthermore, in the forehead and thigh, the extent of blood flow increase at the onset of walking was found to decrease in accordance with the applied pressure (p < .01 for each). These findings suggest that during walking, lower-body positive pressure modulates the blood flow, which implies safeness of this novel apparatus for use during orthopedic rehabilitation treatment.
['Tajino|Junichi|J|', 'Ito|Akira|A|', 'Torii|Yusuke|Y|', 'Tsuchimoto|Koji|K|', 'Iijima|Hirotaka|H|', 'Zhang|Xiangkai|X|', 'Tanima|Momoko|M|', 'Yamaguchi|Shoki|S|', 'Ieki|Hiroshi|H|', 'Kakinoki|Ryosuke|R|', 'Kuroki|Hiroshi|H|']
D001835:Body Weight D005080:Exercise Test D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D011312:Pressure D012039:Regional Blood Flow D016138:Walking
Cardiovascular Safety Design Gait