Effectiveness of an Endurance Exercise Programme Preceded by Ischaemic Preconditioning in Older People

Summary

In recent decades, the proportion of people over 65 years of age is increasing rapidly, due to rising life expectancy and declining fertility rates. According to the World Health Organization, people in this age group will constitute 22% of the population by 2050, up from the current 12% (WHO, 2018). Therefore, improving quality of life (healthspan) and preventing disability has become a public health challenge (Olshansky, 2018).

In this context, physical exercise has been shown to be able to prevent sarcopenia, functional decline, the presence of chronic diseases and even mortality in this group (Izquierdo et al., 2021; Lazarus, Lord, \& Harridge, 2019).

A training method that could enhance the benefits of walking is ischaemic preconditioning (IPC), characterised by the application of brief periods of circulatory occlusion-reperfusion to a limb, minutes to hours prior to exercise. This type of intervention, initially used to delay/prevent cell damage in patients with myocardial infarction (Murry, Jennings, \& Reimer, 1986), has recently shown beneficial effects in young people to improve physical performance in a wide variety of sports (Caru, Levesque, Lalonde, \& Curnier, 2019), as well as to improve recovery from associated muscle damage (Franz et al., 2018), which is of particular interest in the adult population. In fact, the application of IPC alone for two weeks has been shown to improve walking speed and reduce fatigue in post-stroke patients (Durand et al., 2019), promising effects that could be increased when applied prior to resistance training, such as walking.

Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of an endurance exercise programme preceded by ischaemic preconditioning on parameters related to physical function, cognitive status and quality of life in older people. In addition, we set out to compare the acute and chronic effect of the proposed interventions.

Conditions

• Older People

Interventions

OTHER

IPC + Exercise protocol

The intervention consists of two parts: IPC and endurance training protocol. IPC: participants will be placed in a supine position and a pneumatic compression cuff (Riester Komprimeter, Jungingen Germany) (96 centimetres long x 13 centimetres wide) will be placed on the proximal part of each lower extremity. Occlusion will then be performed by inflating the cuff to 220 mmHg for 5 minutes, followed by reperfusion to 0 mmHg for 5 minutes. Each session will consist of 3 sets of 5 minutes of ischaemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. Endurance training protocol: walking 20 min at moderate intensity (i.e. 64- 76 % HRmax, 12-13 Borg Scale) in a circuit designed in an open field, 3 times a week, for 6 weeks.

OTHER

Sham IPC + Exercise protocol

The intervention consists of two parts: sham IPC and endurance training protocol. Sham IPC: the pressure cuff will be inflated by only 10 mmHg, so that it will act as a placebo. Endurance training protocol: walking 20 min at moderate intensity (i.e. 64- 76 % HRmax, 12-13 Borg Scale) in a circuit designed in an open field, 3 times a week, for 6 weeks.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Valencia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marta Inglés, Dr · Univeristy of Valencia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Max Age

100 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-11-12

Primary Completion

2023-12-12

Completion

2023-12-30

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations