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Upper Body Ischemic Preconditioning and Judo Performance
Sponsor: Kastamonu University
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether briefly stopping blood flow to the upper arms with inflatable cuffs before exercise (called ischemic preconditioning, or IPC) can improve judo-specific grip and pulling performance in trained junior male judo athletes aged 17 to 19 years. The study will also look at how IPC affects blood pressure, heart rate, hand grip strength, how hard the exercise feels, and muscle soreness. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does IPC help athletes hang longer from a judo jacket (judogi) with bent arms, and do more pull-ups while holding the jacket? Does IPC increase the number of judo pulling movements (hikidashi uchi-komi) an athlete can do in 20 seconds? Does IPC change blood pressure, heart rate, hand grip strength, perceived effort, and muscle soreness before the tests, right after the tests, and after 30 minutes of rest? Researchers will compare IPC with a sham (fake) cuff treatment to see if IPC improves performance and recovery. In the IPC session, cuffs on both upper arms are inflated to 50 mmHg above the athlete's resting systolic (upper) blood pressure, which briefly stops blood flow to the arms. A finger sensor (pulse oximeter) is used to check that blood flow has stopped. In the sham session, the same cuffs are inflated to only 20 mmHg, which does not block blood flow. Each athlete receives both treatments on different days, in a random order. Participants will: Visit the judo training hall 3 times, with 3 days between visits. At the first visit, have their height, body weight, and body composition measured and practice all tests and the cuff procedure. At the second and third visits, rest while their blood pressure, heart rate, and hand grip strength are measured. Receive either IPC or the sham treatment: 3 rounds of 5 minutes of cuff inflation followed by 5 minutes of rest, for 30 minutes in total. Have their blood pressure and heart rate measured again, then do a standard warm-up. Complete 3 judo tests with 10 minutes of rest between them: hanging from a judo jacket with bent arms for as long as possible, doing as many pull-ups as possible while holding the jacket, and pulling a partner off balance as many times as possible in 20 seconds. Rate how hard the tests felt and how sore their muscles are, and have their heart rate and hand grip strength measured right after the tests and again after 30 minutes of rest. Avoid hard exercise, caffeine, and alcohol for 24 hours before each visit, and keep their usual diet and sleep during the study.
Official title: Acute Effects of Upper-Limb Ischemic Preconditioning on Judo-Specific Upper-Body Performance in Junior Judo Athletes: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Crossover Trial
Key Details
Gender
MALE
Age Range
17 Years - 21 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
13
Start Date
2026-10-04
Completion Date
2026-10-13
Last Updated
2026-11-03
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Upper-limb ischemic preconditioning
Pneumatic cuffs (9 cm wide) were placed on both upper arms and inflated simultaneously to 50 mmHg above the participant's resting systolic blood pressure for three cycles of 5-min occlusion followed by 5-min reperfusion (30 min in total), with participants seated. Complete arterial occlusion was confirmed by loss of the pulse-oximetry signal on the index finger of each arm. The intervention was applied before the judo-specific tests.
Sham cuff inflation
Identical cuff placement, timing and duration (three cycles of 5 min inflation and 5 min deflation, 30 min in total), but the cuffs were inflated to only 20 mmHg, a pressure that does not restrict arterial or venous blood flow. The procedure was applied before the judo-specific tests.
Locations (1)
Dojo of Faculty of Physical Education and Sport
Karaganda, Kazakhstan