The Effect of Remote Preconditioning on the Exercise Performance of the Elite Swimmers
Condition: Healthy
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      In this study, we will test the hypothesis that preconditioning highly trained swimmers using
      skeletal muscle ischemia as the stimulus will improve exercise performance assessment.
    

Detailed description: 
      The main purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to precondition competitive
      swimmers and improve their exercise performance to provide further insight into the
      physiological mechanisms through which preconditioning may function. With four 5 minute
      inflation cycles of a blood-pressure cuff, we will induce skeletal muscle ischemia which is
      known to be a powerful method of preconditioning. Each swimmer will be blinded to the
      expected effect and randomly assigned to real preconditioning versus the sham intervention
      which will consist of four 5 minute cycles of blood pressure cuff inflation to 10mmHg. During
      a subsequent training session, the subjects will receive the intervention they have not
      received during the previous test session. Therefore, each subject will be part of both study
      groups and will serve as their own control. To evaluate the exercise performance, the
      subjects will perform an incremental swimming test protocol based on methods developed and
      reported by a member our research team. Swimming velocity, blood lactate level, heart rate,
      breathing frequency, dyspnoea and oxygen saturation will be measured during incremental
      exercise. Finally, we would like to determine the preconditioning effect of regular exercise
      training in an animal model.

      Exercise performance is thought to be limited by skeletal, cardiac and respiratory muscle
      fatigue associated with episodes of exercise induced arterial hypoxemia. Preconditioning is
      defined as a period of brief lack of oxygen or ischemia in a tissue that protects the heart
      or any other organ from another sustained episode of ischemia. Preconditioning is believed to
      improve exercise performance by protecting the skeletal, cardiac and respiratory muscles
      against decreased oxygen and by-products of anaerobic metabolism that may limit an
      individual's exercise performance. Elite athletes, such as highly trained swimmers, may
      provide the research team with the opportunity to evaluate the effect of preconditioning
      during local tissue hypoxia and anaerobic metabolic by-products in healthy adolescents, which
      is otherwise not possible. With this study, we will show if it is possible to precondition
      competitive swimmers and improve their exercise performance using ischemia of the limb as a
      preconditioning stimulus.
    

Intervention name(s): Real preconditioning followed by Sham preconditioning; Sham preconditioning followed by Real preconditioning
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Subjects in this arm of the study will first receive four 5 minute cycles of upper limb ischemia interspaced with 5 minutes of reperfusion by using a blood-pressure cuff inflated to a pressure of 15 mmHg greater than systolic arterial pressure. The subjects will then cross-over to the other arm of the study and receive four 5 minute cycles of upper limb ischemia interspaced with 5 minutes of reperfusion by using a sham procedure consisting of inflating the blood pressure cuff to 10 mmHg.; Subjects in this arm of the study will first receive four 5 minute cycles of upper limb ischemia interspaced with 5 minutes of reperfusion by using a sham procedure consisting of inflating the blood pressure cuff to 10 mmHg. They will then cross-over to the other arm of the study and receive four 5 minute cycles of upper limb ischemia interspaced with 5 minutes of reperfusion by using a blood-pressure cuff inflated to a pressure of 15 mmHg greater than systolic arterial pressure.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Investigator)
Keywords: Elite swimmers; Exercise; Preconditioning