Stretching Regimen Linked to Vascular Benefits

Leg stretching exercises were associated with improved vascular function, researchers reported in a small study.

Signs of local and systemic vascular improvement were observed after study participants underwent 12 weeks of training in passive stretching (PS):

• 30% increase in femoral change in blood flow
• 25% increase in popliteal artery flow-mediated dilatation
• 8% increase in brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation
• 25% decrease in central arterial stiffness
• 17% decrease in peripheral arterial stiffness
• 4% decrease in systolic blood pressure (BP)
• 8% decrease in diastolic BP

In contrast, controls randomized to no stretching had no significant changes in these measures, according to Emiliano Cè, of the University of Milan, Italy, and colleagues reporting in the Journal of Physiology.

“The present study clearly demonstrates that 12-week PS training is effective in improving vascular function and decreasing stiffness of the directly involved arteries (i.e. femoral and popliteal arteries of the stretched limbs) and the arteries not directly involved (i.e. contralateral femoral and popliteal arteries and brachial artery) in PS training,” Cè’s group said.

“Such changes suggest PS training-induced local and systemic cardiovascular adjustments,” the authors wrote. “Interestingly, systemic changes, in particular, in the vessels not directly involved in PS training, seemed to have a shorter duration in comparison to local adaptations, which are maintained in the arteries directly involved in PS training even after 6 weeks from its cessation.”

The study included 39 participants; 14 were randomized to bilateral stretching, 13 to stretching on the right side only, and 12 to no training in PS. Supervised training sessions, held five times a week, required participants to perform sets of five stretches with 15 seconds of rest in between.

Three people dropped out of the study and were replaced, the investigators noted.

Study participants were roughly split between the sexes and averaged 23 years of age.

The relatively small sample was a limitation of the study. Moreover, the authors did not directly assess muscle sympathetic nerve activity and NO bioavailability, they acknowledged.

“PS has been shown to be an effective means to improve vascular function, with practical implications for its use as a novel non-pharmacological treatment for improving vascular health, reducing the overall cardiovascular risk, especially in individuals with limited mobility,” Cè and colleagues maintained.

“This new application of stretching is especially relevant in the current pandemic period of increased confinement to our homes, where the possibility of performing beneficial training to improve and prevent heart disease, stroke and other conditions is limited,” Cè said in a press release.