HIIT vs HRV-based Training for Rehabilitation After Stroke

Summary

Consequences of stroke are manyfold but all of them are important factors on the long-term outcomes of rehabilitation, becoming an important health problem with requires health strategies with advanced age. High intensity interval training (HIIT) is an efficient training protocol used in cardiac rehabilitation programs, but owing to the inter-individual variability in physiological responses to training associated to cardiovascular diseases, the exercise dose received by each patient should be closely controlled and individualized to ensure the safety and efficiency of the exercise program. The heart rate variability (HRV) is actually being used for this purpose, as it is closely linked to de parasympathetic nervous system activation. In this way, higher scores in HRV are associated with a good cardiovascular adaptation. The objective of this protocol is to determine the effect of HIIT compared with HRV-guided training on cardiorespiratory fitness, heart rate variability, functional parameters, body composition, quality of life, inflammatory markers, cognitive function, and feasibility, safety and adherence in patients after stroke undertaking an 8-week cardiac rehabilitation program. This will be a cluster-randomized controlled protocol in which patients after stroke will be assigned to an HRV-based training group (HRV-G) or a HIIT-based training group (HIIT-G). HIIT-G will train according to a predefined training program. HRV-G training will depend on the patients' daily HRV. The peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), endothelial and work parameters, the heart rate variability, the functional parameters, the relative weight and body fat distribution, the quality of life, the inflammatory markers, the cognitive function, and the exercise adherence, feasibility and safety will be considered as the outcomes. It is expected that this HRV-guided training protocol will improve functional performance in the patients after stroke, being more safe, feasible and generating more adherence than HIIT, providing a better strategy to optimize the cardiac rehabilitation interventions.

Conditions

• Stroke
• Cardiac Disease
• Ischemic Stroke
• Ischemic Heart Disease
• Stroke, Ischemic

Interventions

OTHER

HIIT

HIIT training will consist of performing high intensity intervals along with passive rests. The intensity of the exercise will be progressively increased and the rest time will be decreased. All participants will perform the same training according to the maximum heart rate reached in the Bruce test.

OTHER

HRV

The intervention group will perform HRV-based training, measuring HRV every day before training in order to obtain HRV normality ranges for each participant. If the HRV value is within the normal range, the participant will perform a high intensity training but if the HRV value is below the normal range, the participant will perform a continuous training at low intensity as active rest.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• CEINSA, University of Almeria

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Universidad de Almeria

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-12-01

Primary Completion

2023-08-01

Completion

2023-12-01

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations