Abstract

The effects of walking on muscle oxygen consumption in nonexercising forearm flexor muscles (nonexV·O2mus) during and after exercise were examined. Seven healthy male subjects performed treadmill walking for 30 min at 6 km/h. The nonexV·O2mus values at rest, during exercise, and during recovery after exercise were measured by near infrared spectroscopy. NonexV·O2mus was determined using the rate of decrease in oxygenated hemoglobin during arterial occlusion. The nonexV·O2mus during exercise significantly increased by 1.2(±0.1)-fold and 1.3(±0.1)-fold over the value at rest at 20 and 30 min during exercise, respectively. NonexV·O2mus returned to the value at rest after 1 min of recovery and then showed no significant change for 20 min after exercise. This study suggested that walking for 30 min induced an increase in nonexV·O2mus and that the increase of nonexV·O2mus was somewhat significant. In addition, the results suggested that increase nonexV·O2mus during walking required a duration of over 20 min.