Effects of ischemic preconditioning on rate of perceived exertion and physical performance of healthy individuals and/or athletes
vascular occlusion; exercise; sports physical performance
Introduction: ischemic Preconditioning (IPC) is a method that has been widely used to improve physical performance acutely and to prevent muscle fatigue in different exercise modalities. However, evidence on the IPC effects is conflicting. Some studies suggest that IPC improves neuromuscular function and could alter perceptual responses while others suggest that IPC is not superior to sham. Objectives: This thesis aimed to investigate the effects of IPC on the subjective perception of effort and physical performance (functional and neuromuscular) of healthy individuals (athletes and non-athletes). Methods: For this thesis, the application of IPC locally and in healthy individuals (athletes and non-athletes) was considered. The thesis was divided into three parts: introduction, chapters (1 and 2) and final considerations. Each chapter consists of an article and its respective protocol, with chapter 1 comprising a clinical trial investigating the effects of IPC on physical performance (functional and neuromuscular) and perceptual responses (subjective perception of effort and affective responses) in football players. amateur football. Chapter 2 involves a systematic review with meta-analysis with its respective protocol that investigated the effects of IPC on the subjective perception of effort in different physical tests and sports modalities (subdivided into aerobic and anaerobic exercises). Results: Article 1 showed that there was no significant difference between the IPC and sham groups for any of the variables (p>0.05). Article 2 pointed out that there was no difference in RPE between the IPC group and the comparison. Conclusions: In general, the use of IPC was not superior to control (sham or no intervention) to improve the physical performance (functional or neuromuscular) of amateur football players or to attenuate the subjective perception of exertion in athletes and healthy individuals in different types of exercise.