Acute Effect of Ischemic Preconditioning on Special Judo Fitness Test: 3388 Board #76 June 1 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Ischemic preconditioning improves the physical fitness of athletes of different sports modalities. However, until now, there is no evidence of the effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on the performance of judo athletes. PURPOSE: Verify the accute effect of IPC on the Special Judo Fitness Test (SJFT) performed by judo athletes. METHODS: The study involved 17 judo athletes (age=21.35 ± 3.46 years, practice experience=8.94 ± 3.88 years, height = 1.73 ± 0.9m, body mass=69.34 ± 10,94kg). In the first session, they answered the questionnaires, underwent the anthropometric evaluation and the familiarization of the SJFT. The SJFT was used to evaluate the athletes' physical fitness. In the second and third sessions, two experimental protocols were performed in a randomized and counterbalanced manner: a) IPC (3 cycles x 5 min ischemia at 220 mmHg / 5 min reperfusion at 0 mmHg) + SJFT and b) SHAM (3 cycles x 5 min ischemia at 20 mmHg / 5 min reperfusion at 0 mmHg) + SJFT. A 30 minute interval between the experimental protocols and the SJFT and 72 hours between the 2nd and 3rd sessions was observed. Statistical tests of variance homogeneity and Student's t test were performed to verify possible differences between the IPC and SHAM groups in the following measures: number of throws in the SJFT per series, total number of throw in the SJFT and SJFT index. The magnitude of the difference between IPC and SHAM conditions was assessed using the effect size (d=Cohen's). RESULTS: The IPC performed a larger number of throws in the SJFT per series (p=0.004, d=0.50, moderate effect) compared to SHAM. When we analyzed the total number of throws we found a significant difference between the IPC and SHAM groups (p=0.001, d=0.37, small effect). The SJFT index showed a significant difference between IPC and SHAM (p=0.001, d=0.50, moderate effect). CONCLUSION: IPC improves the physical fitness of judo athletes.