Acute exercise with whole-body vibration decreases wave reflection and leg arterial stiffness

Whole-body vibration exercise (WBV) acutely decreases brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), an index of systemic arterial stiffness. However, the effect of WBV on segmental PWV and aortic hemodynamics is unknown. We examined the acute effects of WBV on arterial function.

Fifteen young men performed ten 1-min sets of static squat with WBV (40 Hz, 1 mm, 5.37 G) and without WBV (no-WBV). Brachial and aortic blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), augmentation index (AIx), baPWV, carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV), and femoral-ankle (faPWV), were recorded before and 5, 15, and 30 min after both trials.

Brachial and aortic SBP (P < 0.01), and HR (P < 0.01) were increased only at 5 min after both exercise trials. AIx was elevated through the recovery after no-WBV while decreased at 15 and 30 min after WBV exercise. FaPWV was decreased (P < 0.01) at 5 min after both trials, but returned to baseline at 15 min after no-WBV exercise and was maintained decreased at 15 and 30 min after WBV exercise. There were no significant changes in brachial and aortic diastolic BP, cfPWV and baPWV after both trials.

Our findings indicate that regardless of WBV, static squat causes a small transient increase in hemodynamic responses during early recovery. WBV counteracts the increase in AIx induced by static squat and reduces wave reflection magnitude through a local effect on arterial stiffness.