The acute effects of single aerobic exercise on arterial stiffness and endothelial function in throwing athletes and untrained individuals: Focusing on throwing athletes

Abstract

Background

Arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction are early markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. While moderate-intensity aerobic exercise has demonstrated vascular benefits in untrained individuals, its acute effects on strength-trained athletes remain unclear.

Objective

This study investigates the impact of a single aerobic session on arterial stiffness and endothelial function in strength-trained throwers and untrained controls.

Methods

Eleven male university throwers and eleven healthy controls participated. Participants completed 30 min of moderate-intensity cycling at 50% of heart rate reserve. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and reactive hyperemia-peripheral arterial tonometry index (RHI) were measured at baseline, immediately after exercise, and 40 min post-exercise.

Results

Arterial stiffness decreased significantly in the controls (p = 0.003) but showed no change in the throwers. Endothelial function, as measured by RHI, improved significantly in both groups post-exercise (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in RHI improvement between groups.

Conclusions

In the throwers group, a single session of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise did not lead to a significant reduction in arterial stiffness but resulted in an improvement in endothelial function. These findings suggest that while endothelial function in strength-trained throwers can benefit acutely from aerobic exercise, their arterial stiffness may require more intensive or longer-duration aerobic interventions to achieve significant improvements.