São Paulo State University-Rio Claro Bioscience Institute, Physical Education Department, Rio Claro/SP, Brasil.
Physiother Theory Pract. 2012 Jul;28(5):412-6. doi: 10.3109/09593985.2011.609582. Epub 2011 Oct 18.
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is an attractive method to increase strength and proprioception of elderly individuals. However, a major clinical concern about the prescription of PNF is the belief that it can cause a cardiovascular overload, because it involves close-to-maximal loads and isometric contractions. Yet the acute effect of a PNF training session on cardiovascular response in elderly individuals is still unknown. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of PNF on diastolic and systolic blood pressure of healthy elderly people. Fifteen older women (mean age 72.40±6.82 years) performed three sets (five repetitions each) of three different PNF techniques (rhythmic initiation, dynamic reversion, and isotonic combination), executing a single movement pattern. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP and SBP) were evaluated by means of a manual sphygmomanometer immediately before and during the last two repetitions (last set) of each technique. A two-way ANOVA test (time and technique) was performed to investigate the PNF effect on blood pressure. No time (preexercise to postexercise) (p=0.33 for DBP; p=0.06 for SBP) or PNF technique (p=0.75; p=0.81) effect were observed. In conclusion, we can state that the execution of these PNF techniques is safe for the cardiovascular system of healthy elderly women, because no blood pressure increases were found.
本体感受神经肌肉促进法（PNF）是一种增加老年人力量和本体感觉的有吸引力的方法。然而，PNF 处方的一个主要临床关注点是，人们认为它会导致心血管过载，因为它涉及接近最大负荷和等长收缩。然而，PNF 训练对老年人心血管反应的急性影响尚不清楚。因此，本研究的目的是评估 PNF 对健康老年人舒张压和收缩压的影响。15 名老年女性（平均年龄 72.40±6.82 岁）进行了三组（每组 5 次重复）三种不同的 PNF 技术（节奏启动、动态反转和等张组合），执行单一运动模式。通过手动血压计在每次技术的最后两次重复（最后一组）之前和期间评估舒张压和收缩压（DBP 和 SBP）。采用双因素方差分析（时间和技术）来研究 PNF 对血压的影响。未观察到时间（运动前至运动后）（DBP 的 p=0.33；SBP 的 p=0.06）或 PNF 技术（p=0.75；p=0.81）的影响。总之，我们可以说，这些 PNF 技术的执行对健康老年女性的心血管系统是安全的，因为没有发现血压升高。
