Oral Temperature and Cardiovascular Responses of Apparently Healthy Subjects to Passive and Active Warm-up

This study investigated and compared the effects of active and passive warm-up on oral temperature and cardiovascular parameters of forty (20 males and 20 females) apparently healthy undergraduates. Subjects whose mean age was 22.6±1.37years acted as their own controls. During active warm-up (AWU) subjects rode on an unloaded bicycle ergometer for 15 minutes while they received infra-red radiation to the lower extremities for 15 minutes during passive warm-up (PWU). Oral temperature (OT) and cardiovascular parameters of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR) and ratepressure product (RPP) were measured before and after each type of warm-up. The data were summarized using mean and standard deviation and further analyzed using independent (unpaired) t-test with α set at 0.05.Results showed that there were no significant differences between preand post PWU cardiovascular parameters of the subjects. In contrast, significant differences were observed between the preand postAWU cardiovascular parameters of the subjects. However, oral temperature responses to both AWU and PWU were statistically significant. Further, the responses (mean changes) of HR, SBP and RPP to AWU were significantly different. There were also no significant differences between the responses of male and female subjects to either AWU or PWU. Due to the significant increases in HR, SPB and RPP following AWU it was suggested that care should be taken when including AWU in treatment programmes of patients with or suspected of having cardiovascular problems.