Respiratory muscle work compromises leg blood flow during maximal exercise

Harms, Craig A.; Babcock, Mark A.; McClaran, Steven R.; Pegelow, David F.; Nickele, Glenn A.; Nelson, William B.; Dempsey, Jerome A.

doi:10.1152/jappl.1997.82.5.1573

Respiratory muscle work compromises leg blood flow during maximal exercise

We hypothesized that during exercise at maximal O2 consumption (VO2max), high demand for respiratory muscle blood flow (Q) would elicit locomotor muscle vasoconstriction and compromise limb Q. Seven male cyclists (VO2max 64 +/- 6 ml.kg-1.min-1) each completed 14 exercise bouts of 2.5-min duration…