Excerpt
Physical therapists are often concerned with the effects that localized, repetitive muscle contractions or general exercise programs will have upon the cardiovascular systems of deconditioned individuals or patients with compromised circulation or impaired cardiac function. In the next three issues of Physical Therapy, Elizabeth Littell presents a four-part series of articles that examine physiologic factors governing cardiovascular changes in response to exercise.
In Part 1 of this series, Dr. Littell presents a systematic and logical progression of the physiologic factors that affect cardiovascular responsiveness to exercise. A similar approach is used to address the neural factors that control cardiovascular changes during exercise (Part 2). Collectively, these two articles provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the dynamic physiologic interactions between metabolic and vascular components and the neural elements controlling them by using a well-developed closed-loop model.