Ankle to arm index following maximal exercise in normal subjects and athletes

Recent reports have suggested that minor arterial lesions can be responsible for claudication in athletes occurring only during maximal exercise. Ankle to arm index measurements (AAI) prove the arterial origin of this claudication, but little is known about the normal response of AAI to maximal exercise. Therefore, we studied the response of AAI to maximal exercise in trained and untrained normal subjects. AAI and heart rate (HR) were recorded at rest and following maximal exercise on a cycle ergometer in 15 untrained (VO2 = 41.5 +/- 4.0 ml.kg-1.min-1) and 15 trained (VO2 = 58.4 +/- 2.8 ml.kg-1.min-1) volunteers. All subjects were without known peripheral arterial disease. At rest, AAI was 1.08 +/- 0.08 in untrained subjects and 1.15 +/- 0.05 in trained subjects (P < 0.05). HR was 73.9 +/- 11.0 in untrained subjects and 57.1 +/- 8.3 in trained subjects (P < 0.05). Following exercise, AAI decreased during the first minutes of recovery in all subjects, with a significant difference between untrained and trained subjects. Although untrained subjects sustained a lower workload than trained subjects, at 1 min following exercise AAI was 0.70 +/- 0.06 in untrained versus 0.8 +/- 0.08 in trained subjects (P < 0.05). No difference in AAI to HR relationships was noted between untrained and trained subjects. In conclusion, we suggest that AAI should be interpreted with regard to HR at the end of maximal exercise and we project normal results for the AAI to HR relationships following maximal exercise.