Abstract

Objective: The autonomic nervous system is an issue that needs to be examined due to the symptoms that develop due to orthostatic intolerance when a person stands up. Nowadays, it is recommended to do sports regularly from childhood. In addition, there are many different ideas about which muscle groups work and how they work, and which sport is more beneficial. In our study, we aimed to examine the responses of the autonomic nervous systems to position changes in children who do regular and different sports.

Methods: The most commonly used head-up tilt test to detect orthostatic intolerance. Fifteen male wrestlers who dominantly do isometric sports, 15 male basketball players who dominantly do isotonic sports, and 15 children of similar age and gender who do not do regular sports participated in our study. After the children were placed on a tilt table and rested for 15 minutes, the table was turned to 70 degrees and their pulse and blood pressure were measured for 50 minutes, 65 minutes in total.

Results: In our study, basal cardiac pulse values were found to be lower in the athlete groups than in the control group, more clearly in the wrestler group doing isometric sports. There was an increase in cardiac pulses upon standing up in all groups. During the test, systolic blood pressure values were found to be higher in the wrestlers than in the control group, while basal diastolic blood pressure values were found to be significantly lower in the athlete groups.

Conclusion: The fact that there is a greater increase in diastolic blood pressure upon standing up in those who dominantly isometric sports compared to those who dominantly isotonic sports suggests the need to do dominantly isometric movements to prevent orthostatic intolerance which is the most common cause of vasovagal syncope.