Vascular Occlusion and Sequential Compression for Recovery After Resistance Exercise

ABSTRACTNorthey, JM, Rattray, B, Argus, CK, Etxebarria, N, and Driller, MW. Vascular occlusion and sequential compression for recovery after resistance exercise. J Strength Cond Res 30(2)533–539, 2016—The purpose of this study was to evaluate vascular occlusion (OCC) and sequential intermittent pneumatic compression (SIPC) as recovery strategies after fatiguing resistance exercise. Twelve strength-trained male participants (age24.0 ± 6.3 years, height180.4 ± 9.7 cm, and weight84.8 ± 9.6 kg) participated in a randomized cross-over study. Participants performed a fatiguing resistance exercise bout consisting of 10 sets with 10 repetitions of back squats at 70% 1 repetition maximum with 3-minute rest between sets. Outcome measures of perceived recovery status, muscle soreness, concentric peak isokinetic torque of the quadriceps, squat jump (SJ) height, and countermovement jump (CMJ) height were taken before the fatiguing resistance exercise bout and repeated immediately post, 1 hour, and 24 hours later. Immediately after the postexercise measures, participants undertook 1 of the 3 recovery strategiesOCC, SIPC, and a passive control (CON). Concentric peak isokinetic torque of the quadriceps was decreased significantly immediately post and 1 hour after the fatiguing resistance exercise bout compared with baseline values (p ≤ 0.05). Mean SJ and CMJ jump height decreased significantly immediately post and 1 hour compared with baseline measures, but only the SJ was significantly decreased at 24 hours. There were no significant differences between conditions for any of the postexercise measures (p > 0.05). In conclusion, this study indicates that OCC and SIPC are not effective for attenuating muscle performance loss after a fatiguing resistance exercise bout relative to passive recovery.