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Effects of intensity and training on cardiovascular responses to the Valsalva maneouvre

  • Kathryn Drury ORCID logo and Simon Green ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 10, 2022
Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology
From the journal Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology Volume 34 Issue 1

Abstract

Objectives

To establish the effect of intensity of effort during Valsalva’s manoeuvre (VM) on blood pressure and heart rate responses.

Methods

Fourteen participants consisting of eight powerlifters and six controls completed four 15-s VMs at 30 and 50% maximum expiratory pressure. Expiratory pressure (EP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded continuously during manoeuvres and response amplitudes were related to well-established phases (I–IV).

Results

For all participants, SBP and DBP responses during Phase I were significantly higher at 50% EPmax than 30% EPmax. Phase II responses were significantly higher at 50% EPmax than 30% EPmax for HR (39.9 ± 24.3 vs. 24.5 ± 12.5 bpm), SBP (43.6 ± 24.6 vs. 35.3 ± 18.3 mm Hg) and DBP (26.7 ± 7.1 vs. 21.1 ± 7.4 mm Hg). For Phase IV, only the HR response was affected significantly by intensity. These intensity-dependent effects were similar between powerlifters and controls. Powerlifters had significantly greater Phase II responses (HR, SBP and DBP), but in the whole group these cardiovascular responses were also significantly correlated with expiratory pressure (mm Hg) at 30% EPmax (r=0.59–0.84) and 50% EPmax (r=0.53–0.82) which was higher in powerlifters than controls.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that heart rate and blood pressure responses during Phase II are affected by the relative intensity of VM, whereas during Phase IV only heart rate is affected. The higher Phase II responses in powerlifters can be attributed to the higher expiratory pressures they developed.

Keywords: blood pressure; controls; expiratory pressure; heart rate; powerlifters
Corresponding author: Simon Green, Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, Phone: 61 2 46203272, E-mail:

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board (Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee) approved this study before it began (approval #H13361, 19/08/2019).

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2022-0029).

Received: 2022-04-13
Accepted: 2022-10-17
Published Online: 2022-11-10

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2022-0029
Keywords for this article
blood pressure; controls; expiratory pressure; heart rate; powerlifters

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Peyronie’s disease: where are we at?
  4. Reviews
  5. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection: an overview
  6. Liver and heart failure: an ultrasound relationship
  7. Original Articles
  8. The intracellular fluid compartment is smaller than commonly believed when measured by whole-body bioimpedance
  9. Prevalence and distribution of causes of infertility according to women’s age – a cross-sectional study in a tertiary healthcare hospital setup
  10. Supplementation of antihypertensive drug regimen with vitamin E ameliorates alterations of primary haemodynamic parameters and total antioxidant capacity in ovariectomised rats
  11. Analgesic effect of curcumin topical formulation in knee osteoarthritis patients: a clinical trial
  12. ProACT in the management of stress urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy. What happens after 8 years of follow up? monocentric analysis in 42 patients
  13. The effect of metformin on the metabolism of human vascular smooth muscle cells in high glucose conditions
  14. Physiological response of endurance exercise as a growth hormone mediator in adolescent women’s
  15. Effect of Om chanting and Yoga Nidra on depression anxiety stress, sleep quality and autonomic functions of hypertensive subjects – a randomized controlled trial
  16. Effectiveness of electrical vestibular nerve stimulation as adjunctive therapy to improve the cognitive functions in patients with Parkinson’s disease
  17. Role of interleukin-22 in tuberculosis patients
  18. Effect of aspirin on the TNF-α-mediated cell survival and death pathways in breast cancer
  19. Resting heart rate variability as a diagnostic marker of cardiovascular dysautonomia in postural tachycardia syndrome
  20. Effects of intensity and training on cardiovascular responses to the Valsalva maneouvre
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