Similar Recovery of Maximal Cycling Performance after Ischemic Preconditioning, Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation or Active Recovery in Endurance Athletes

Table 2. Blood parameters at baseline and after time trials and recovery.

		BS	Post-TT1	Post-recovery	Post-TT2	∆TT2 vs. ∆TT1
		BS	Mean (SE)	Post-recovery	%D within conditions	∆TT2 vs. ∆TT1
pH	IPC NMES AR	7.46 (0.02)	7.22 (0.01)* † 7.28 (0.02)* 7.24 (0.02)***	7.44 (0.01)‡ 7.44 (0.01) 7.48 (0.02)*	7.26 (0.02)* † ‡ 7.31 (0.02)* 7.29 (0.02)***	0.4%* 0.7%* 0.7%*
PCO₂ mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	34.7 (2.1)	29.3 (1.7)* † 27.6 (1.8)* 28.0 (2.2)***	33.5 (1.6) 35.8 (1.1)* 31.7 (3.1)**	29.9 (1.2)* † 27.1 (2.5)* 29.8 (1.8)***	2.9%‡ -4.0% 7.0%*
PO₂ mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	86.8 (7.6)	95.5 (3.8)* 100.4 (4.0) 95.5 (4.5)	70.3 (4.7) ‡ 66.8 (4.2)* 81.0 (7.2)	99.8 (2.5)* ‡ 100.5 (7.3)* 94.5 (4.2)	4.2%* -0.2% -1.0%
[Na⁺] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	147 (1)	144(1) 144(1)* 144(1)**	144(1) 144(1) 146(2)	142 (1)* † 144(1) 143(1)**	-0.9%* 0.0% -0.1%
[K⁺] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	6.98 (0.50)	5.53 (0.41)** 5.95 (0.52)* 5.80 (0.64)	6.26 (0.69) 6.04 (0.70) 6.30 (0.67)	5.08 (0.39)*** 6.44 (1.01) 5.73 (0.73)*	-6.9% 7.2% -2.6%
[Ca2⁺] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	1.22 (0.02)	1.26 (0.02) 1.22 (0.03) 1.24 (0.02)	1.19 (0.02) 1.20 (0.02) 1.19 (0.02)***	1.22 (0.01) 1.23 (0.02) 1.23 (0.02)	-2.3% 0.6% -0.6%
[Cl^-] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	113 (2)	112(1) 113(1) 112(2)	112(2) 110(1) 113(2)	110(1) 113(3) 113(3)	-2.5%* -1.2% -0.7%
[Glc] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	5.96 (0.30)	7.14 (0.29)* ‡ 6.42 (0.48) 6.94 (0.33)*	5.78 (0.31)† ‡ 6.30 (0.35) 6.81 (0.36)**	6.18 (0.36)† 5.60 (0.32) 5.97 (0.43)	-10.4% -15.3%* -14.6%***
[Lact] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	3.50 (0.50)	14.6 (0.5)* 14.3 (0.7)* 14.6 (0.6)***	4.8 (0.4)* † 4.1 (0.5)* 4.1 (0.5)***	12.5 (0.6)* 12.0 (0.8)* 12.4 (1.0)***	-11.8%* -16.3% -16.6%
Hct %	IPC NMES AR	48.1 (1.3)	48.9 (0.8)† 49.8 (1.3) 49.3 (1.0)	44.0 (1.3)* 44.6 (1.2)* 44.9 (1.2)***	49.0 (1.0)† 51.6 (1.6)** 49.1 (0.6)	-0.4% 3.5%* -0.2%
[HCO_3-] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	24.3 (0.8)	12.0 (0.8)* 12.9 (1.0)* 11.9 (0.6)***	22.7 (0.6)* † 24.2 (0.3) 22.8 (1.1)**	13.3 (0.9)* 13.6 (1.3)* 14.3 (0.9)***	9.9%** ‡ 8.6%* 19.2%***
[cTCO₂] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	25.3 (0.9)	12.9 (0.8)* 13.7 (1.0)* 12.8 (0.7)***	23.8 (0.6)* † 25.3 (0.4) 23.8 (1.2)**	14.2 (1.0)* 14.4 (1.4)* 15.2 (0.9)***	9.6% ‡ 7.7% 18.2%*
[Be_(ecf)] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	0.4 (0.8)	-15.6 (0.9)* -14.0 (1.2)* -15.4 (0.6)***	-1.4 (0.5)* † 0.1 (0.4)* -0.8 (0.7)**	-13.9 (1.2)* † ‡ -12.7 (1.5)* -12.3 (1.1)***	-10.6% ‡ -14.6% -21.3%***
[Be_(b)] mmol·L^-1	IPC NMES AR	1.0 (0.6)	-14.1 (0.8)* -12.2 (1.1)* -13.7 (0.6)***	-0.6 (0.4)** † 0.4 (0.4)* 0.2 (0.4)*	-12.5 (1.2)* † ‡ -10.7 (1.3)* -10.7 (1.1)***	-11.0% ‡ -18.0%* -21.8%***
cSO₂ %	IPC NMES AR	96.2 (0.7)	95.7 (0.5) 96.8 (0.5) 95.8 (0.7)	93.6 (1.3) 92.9 (1.2)* 95.0 (2.0)	96.5 (0.4)* ‡ 96.8 (0.5) 96.2 (0.7)	0.8%* -0.2% 0.4%
[cHgb] g·dL^-1	IPC NMES AR	16.4 (0.4)	16.7 (0.3)† 17.0 (0.5) 16.8 (0.3)	14.9 (0.4)* 15.1 (0.4)* 15.3 (0.4)***	16.7 (0.3)† 17.5 (0.6)** 16.8 (0.2)	-0.9% 3.1% -0.4%

Within-condition clear differences at time point (post-TT1, post-recovery, post-TT2), compared to baseline, and for changes (∆: TT2 compared to TT1) are denoted as small (0.20-0.49, *), moderate (0.50-0.79, **), or large (≥0.80, ***). Between-condition clear differences at time point, compared to baseline, and between changes are denoted for IPC vs. NMES († ) or IPC vs. AR (‡). For small, moderate or large effects, symbols are presented in italics, bold, or underlined, respectively. Abbreviations: AR, active recovery; Be_(b), Be_(ecf), base excess of blood and extracellular fluid; BS, baseline; Ca²⁺, ionized calcium; HCO₃^-, bicarbonate; cHgb, haemoglobin; Cl^-, chloride; cSO₂, arterial blood O₂ saturation; cTCO₂, total CO₂; %D, percentage difference; glc, glucose; Hct, hematocrit; IPC, ischemic preconditioning; K⁺, potassium; lact, lactate; NMES, neuromuscular electrical stimulation; PCO₂ and PO₂, CO₂ and O₂ partial pressure.