Walking exercise and lower-body blood flow restriction: Effects on systemic inflammation, lipid profiles and hematological indices in overweight middle-aged males

ABSTRACT

The objective of present study is to investigate the effects of walk training with and without blood flow restriction (BFR and no-BFR) on lipid profiles, inflammatory and haematological factors in over-weighed men. Participants were divided into BFR (n = 9) or no-BFR (n = 9) groups. Both groups were exposed to 8-week walk training on a treadmill: 3 sessions/week at a speed of 50 m/min, 5 sets × 2 min/session. There were differences in pre- to post-levels of (TG) and fibrinogen in the BFR group (p ≤ 0.05) that were accompanied by changes in red blood cells (RBC), haemoglobin (HGB) and haematocrit (HCT) levels (p ≤ 0.05). RBC levels were increased in the BFR group (p ≤ 0.05). The groups differed in their mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC). These findings suggest the efficiency of BFR walk training in individuals exposed to chronic diseases associated with overweight, such as metabolic syndrome.

KEYWORDS:

• Exercise
• inflammation
• blood viscosity
• cardiovascular diseases

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all the participants in this research project. The current study was performed by OR and MM. The first draft manuscript was written by OR. Prof’s. HZ, AC. H commented on its English language and data analysis. Dr. NZ analyzed the data. Dr. IL revised the final version of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.