Background: Little is known about the acute effects of exercise on the lymphatic system.
Thus, the purpose was to determine the effect of low versus high intensity upper body exercise
on lymphatic function in healthy females.
Methods and Results: On separate days, eight females performed either HI: 12 repeated sets
of arm cranking for 2.5 min at 0.6 W · kg–1, followed by 2.5 min of rest; or LO: 12 repeated
sets of arm cranking for 2.5 min at 0.3 W · kg–1, followed by 2.5 min of rest. One min spot
views were taken with a γ-radiation camera immediately after injection of 99mTc-antimony
colloid and every 10 min thereafter to measure the clearance rate (CR) from the first and fourth
finger-web of each hand. Radiopharmaceutical uptake in the axillary regions (AX) at 65 min
postinjection was also measured. Clearance from the injection sites was linear and expressed
as a slope (% administered activity · min–1). HI resulted in significantly greater CR
(–0.24% · min–1 ± 0.06) than LO (–0.19% · min–1 ± 0.05; p = 0.003). A similar trend was seen
in AX (HI: 6.3% ± 1.6, LO: 4.8% ± 1.1, p = 0.004).
Conclusions: The results indicate that an arm cranking protocol of higher intensity is more
effective in promoting lymphatic clearance from the hand. Further, the high intensity protocol
may be useful in the functional evaluation of the lymphatic system in breast cancer survivors
and warrants further investigation.
