The Effect of Water Exercise Program for Treating the Gestational Edema / 대한주산의학회잡지

PURPOSE: To confirm the effect of water exercise program for treating the gestational edema. METHODS: Both low leg volume, body weight and urine specific gravity were measured in thirty women with gestational edema before and after water exercise program. Fetal heart rate, maternal heart rate and maternal blood pressure were measured before and after water exercise program. RESULTS: Right leg volume was decreased by 286 ml from 1714 to 1428 mL (P<.0001), left leg volume was decreased by 267 mL from 1,644 to 1,377 mL (P<0.0001), and total leg volume was decreased by 553 mL from 3,359 to 2,805 mL (P<0.0001). Urine specific gravity was decreased by 0.0047 from 1.0197 to 1.0150 (P=0.004). Maternal body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, and fetal heart rate were showed no significant change. CONCLUSION: Water exercise program is effective and safe method for treating the gestational edema.

The massage and cooling down effects on the recovery of exercise-induced hypervolume in the human lower leg after heel raising / 体力科学

A study was designed to determine the effect of cooling down and massage on lower leg volume after heel-raising exercise in men. The subjects were six healthy athletes ranging in age from 18 to 23 years. Lower leg volume was measured at rest and after heel-raising exercise using Lundvall's volumetric method with a water-filled“boot”. Ten minutes of rhythmic heel-raising, performed at 45 times per minute, was monitored continuously using a mech-anograph.<BR>Immediately after the end of exercise, each subject lay in a relaxed supine position and the leg was raised to 45 degrees. A cuff was then attached around the thigh, and the cuff pressure was increased to occlude the leg circulation. The leg volume was then determined in a standing position. After the first measurement of the lower leg, three kinds of treatment were applied for each subject (no treatment, one minute walking : total seven minutes, one minute massage : total five minutes) .<BR>The results obtained were as follows ;<BR>1) The slopes of the recovery curve of lower leg volume were more gentle with no treatment than with cooling down and massage.<BR>2) The time constant (min) obtained from the decreasing curve of lower leg volume after heel-raising exercise was 10.2 for no treatment, 9.4 for cooling down and 6.4 for massage.<BR>3) The total fluid accumulation volume in the lower leg (ml/l lower leg) following heel-raising exercise was 450.9 for no treatment, 288.9 for cooling down and 198.6 for massage.<BR>It is suggested that such a disappearance of fluid accumulation in exercising muscles of the lower leg following cooling down and massage is due to a mechanical pump action against the surrouding local skeletal muscle tissues.