Post-exercise hypotension and recreational futsal: Effects of a 3-month intervention and association with resting blood pressure adaptations

To investigate i) if a recreational futsal (RF) training session elicits post-exercise hypotension (PEH), ii) the impact of a 3-month RF intervention on PEH, and iii) the association between PEH in the early phase of the intervention with resting blood pressure (BP) chronic adaptions in men with treated hypertension. BP was measured before and after a RF training session every 5-min (total of 30-min) in the early (weeks 1–2) and the final phases (weeks 11–12) of a 3-month RF intervention, comprising 3 weekly one-hour sessions. Thirty-three men (48 ± 7 years; mean arterial pressure [MAP]: 96 ± 8 mmHg; BMI: 32.2 ± 4.9 kg/m²) participated. In the intervention early phase, systolic BP ([SBP]; −15.4 mmHg; 95% CI: −10.9, −16.8), diastolic BP ([DBP]; −5.4 mmHg; 95% CI: −7.8, −3.0), and MAP (−8.8 mmHg; 95% CI: −11.2, −6.4) significantly decreased 30-min post- compared to pre-training session (n = 33). In the intervention final phase (n = 24), SBP (−8.1 mmHg; 95% CI: −12.0, −3.9) and MAP (−3.0 mmHg; 95% CI: −5.4, −0.7) significantly decreased 30-min post- compared to pre-training session, but not DBP (−0.5 mmHg; 95% CI: −3.7, 2.7). PEH in the final phase was significantly inferior compared to the early phase. PEH in the early phase of the intervention was not consistently associated with chronic BP changes.