INTRODUÇÃO: Exercícios com uma barra flexível têm sido usados na prática clínica para a reabilitação do membro superior. No entanto, os seus efeitos agudos sobre a regulação autonômica cardíaca não estão bem esclarecidas. OBJETIVO: Avaliar os efeitos agudos do exercício com barra flexível sobre o comportamento complexo da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca (VFC). MÉTODO: Foram investigadas 32 voluntárias saudáveis com idades entre 18 e 25 anos que realizaram uma sessão de exercício com barra flexível. A VFC foi analisada 10 minutos antes e 10 minutos imediatamente depois do exercício. RESULTADOS: Os exercícios com a barra flexível não alteraram significativamente os domínios de tempo e frequência de VFC. Análise não-linear da VFC através da Dimensão Fractal Higuchi mostra que a mesma não foi significativamente alterada durante a recuperação do exercício em relação ao controle pré-exercício. CONCLUSÃO: O exercício com a barra flexível não alterou profundamente o comportamento caótico da dinâmica da frequência cardíaca. Isto é vantajoso para a avaliação de níveis de tratamento de reabilitação necessário em tais pacientes; e sua suscetibilidade a doenças dinâmicas.

INTRODUCTION: Exercises with a flexible pole have been applied in clinical practice for upper limb rehabilitation. Nevertheless, its acute effects on cardiac autonomic regulation are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the acute effects of exercise with flexible pole on complex behavior of heart rate variability (HRV). METHOD: We investigated 32 healthy female volunteers aged between 18 and 25 years who performed a session of exercise with a flexible pole. HRV was analyzed 10 minutes before and 10 minutes immediately after the exercise. RESULTS: Exercises with a flexible pole did not significantly change time and frequency domain indices of HRV. Non-linear analysis of HRV through the Higuchi Fractal Dimension was not significantly changed during recovery from exercise compared to the control reading at rest. CONCLUSION: Exercises with the flexible pole were unable to acutely change chaotic behavior of heart rate dynamics. This is advantageous for assessments of levels of rehabilitative treatment required in such patients; and their susceptibility to dynamical diseases.

OBJECTIVES: Flexible poles can provide rapid eccentric and concentric muscle contractions. Muscle vibration is associated with a "tonic vibration reflex” that is stimulated by a sequence of rapid muscle stretching, activation of the muscle spindles and stimulation of a response that is similar to the myotatic reflex. Literature studies analyzing the acute cardiovascular responses to different exercises performed with this instrument are lacking. We investigated the acute effects of exercise with flexible poles on the heart period in healthy men. METHOD: The study was performed on ten young adult males between 18 and 25 years old. We evaluated the heart rate variability in the time and frequency domains. The subjects remained at rest for 10 min. After the rest period, the volunteers performed the exercises with the flexible poles. Immediately after the exercise protocol, the volunteers remained seated at rest for 30 min and their heart rate variability was analyzed. RESULTS: The pNN50 was reduced at 5-10 and 15-20 min after exercise compared to 25-30 min after exercise (p = 0.0019), the SDNN was increased at 25-30 min after exercise compared to at rest and 0-10 min after exercise (p = 0.0073) and the RMSSD was increased at 25-30 min after exercise compared to 5-15 min after exercise (p = 0.0043). The LF in absolute units was increased at 25-30 min after exercise compared to 5-20 min after exercise (p = 0.0184). CONCLUSION: A single bout of exercise with a flexible pole reduced the heart rate variability and parasympathetic recovery was observed approximately 30 min after exercise.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the effects of chronic (eight weeks) low-to moderate-intensity swimming training on thermal pain sensitivity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic female rats. METHODS: Female Wistar rats (n = 51) were divided into the following groups: trained streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats [hyperglycemic trained (HT)], sedentary streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats [hyperglycemic sedentary (HS)], normoglycemic trained rats (NT) and normoglycemic sedentary rats (NS). Diabetes was induced by a single injection of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg, i.p.). One day after the last exercise protocol (60 min/day, five days/week for eight weeks) in the trained groups or after water stress exposure (ten min/twice a week) in the sedentary groups, the rats were subjected to a hot plate test. RESULTS: After eight weeks of swimming training, streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats presented a significantly lower body mass (trained: 219.5±29 g, sedentary: 217.8±23 g) compared with the normoglycemic groups (trained: 271±24 g, sedentary: 275.7±32 g). Interestingly, we did not find differences in blood glucose levels (mg/dl) between the trained and sedentary groups of the hyperglycemic or normoglycemic rats (HT: 360.2±6.6, HS: 391.7±6.7, NT: 83.8±14.0, NS: 77.5±10.1). In the hot plate test, the rats from the HT group presented a significantly lower latency than the other rats (HT: 11.7±7.38 s, HS: 7.02±7.38 s, NT: 21.21±7.64 s, NS: 22.82±7.82 s). CONCLUSION: Low-to-moderate swimming training for a long duration reduces thermal hyperalgesia during a hot plate test in streptozotocin-induced diabetic female rats.