Peripheral conduit and resistance artery function are improved following a single, 1-h bout of peristaltic pulse external pneumatic compression

Abstract

Acutely, whole limb, lower pressure EPC improves conduit artery endothelial function systemically, but only improves RH blood flow locally (i.e., compressed limbs).

Peer Review #1 of "Unilateral application of an external pneumatic compression therapy improves skin blood flow and vascular reactivity bilaterally (v0.1)"

“…At the onset of the EPC treatment, all zones in the "leg 179 sleeve" are pre-inflated to form fit the participant's legs while applying minimal pressure (~10 180 mmHg). Thereafter, the distalmost chamber (which covers from the high ankle to toes) inflated Regarding AIM1 of the present investigation, the bilateral improvement in popliteal 294 artery FMD with unilateral treatment is similar to our previous observations of improved 295 popliteal (compressed leg) and brachial artery (non-compressed arm) FMD with 1-h of bilateral 296 leg EPC treatment (Martin et al 2015a). Herein, we extend our previous findings by 297 demonstrating that 1) unilateral EPC improves vascular reactivity in the treated and untreated 298 (contralateral) leg, 2) 30-min of treatment, compared to 1-h, is sufficient for improvement of 299 peripheral conduit reactivity, and 3) FMD is improved for at least 30-min following treatment.…”

“…legs) and 62 non-compressed (i.e. arms) limbs (Martin et al 2015a). Moreover, we have shown that local 63 concentration of the stable metabolites of nitric oxide (NO) are increased in skeletal muscle 64 biopsy samples following a 1-h bout of EPC (Kephart et al 2015).…”

“…The "leg sleeves" are connected to an automated pneumatic pump at 174 which duration of treatment and target inflation pressures can be controlled. In this study, we 175 chose to use target inflation pressures of ~70mmHg for each chamber as we've previously 176 observed acute improvements in vascular reactivity with bilateral treatment at this target inflation 177 pressure (Martin et al 2015a). Herein, only one leg sleeve was applied (right leg) while the 178 contralateral leg (left) was uncovered.…”

Does external pneumatic compression treatment between bouts of overreaching resistance training sessions exert differential effects on molecular signaling and performance-related variables compared to passive recovery? An exploratory study

“…While it has been posited that EPC can exert localized vasoactive effects [5] and improve post-exercise lactate clearance [6], EPC devices are also putatively analogous to a lower-limb massage which has been shown to decrease exercise-induced inflammatory signaling [7]. Interestingly, investigators have reported that a single 15 min EPC treatment acutely improves flexibility [8] and increases the pressure-to-pain threshold (PPT) in the lower limbs following resistance training [9].…”

Impact of external pneumatic compression target inflation pressure on transcriptome-wide RNA expression in skeletal muscle

“…Of note, our previous investigations exploring the molecular effects of PEPC utilized target inflation pressures of 70 mmHg given the beneficial effects seen with this pressure in vascular and sports performance studies (Martin et al. ,b). However, the effect of lower target inflation pressures with this PEPC device is unknown.…”