This Week In HRV - Episode 47

DISCLAIMER: This podcast and its accompanying show notes are for educational and informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or clinical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Dr. Inna Khazan's HRV Biofeedback Training (BCIA-aligned, 16 APA CE credits)

Registration Link: https://www.optimalhrv.com/event-details-registration/bcia-aligned-hrv-biofeedback-training-led-by-dr-inna-khazan

Dr. Donald Moss's Ethical Principles and Practice Standards in Clinical Biofeedback (BCIA-aligned, 3 APA CE credits)

Registration Link: https://www.optimalhrv.com/event-details-registration/master-ethical-principles-practice-standards-in-clinical-biofeedback-aligned-with-bcia

This week we cover five studies that stretch heart rate variability into some surprising territory. We start with elite wrestlers and what heart rate variability reveals about training recovery, move into the modern office to look at heart rate variability as an objective marker of musculoskeletal pain risk, and head into neurology for two studies on seizure diagnosis and unexplained neurological symptoms. We close with a study on sound your ears can't consciously hear, but your nervous system apparently can.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

1. Investigating the Acute Effect of Different Training Protocols on Heart Rate Variability

PUBLICATION: Sports

AUTHORS: Burhan Demirkıran, Tuba Melekoğlu, Grzegorz Żurek

KEY FINDING:

In thirteen elite Greco-Roman wrestlers, both high-intensity interval training and prolonged endurance training produced dramatic acute suppression of heart rate variability, with SDNN dropping seventy-three to eighty-two percent immediately after exercise, followed by partial recovery at the twenty-four-hour mark. After correcting for multiple comparisons, there was no statistically significant difference between the two training protocols.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Coaches often assume that different training modalities carry meaningfully different acute costs to the nervous system, but this study suggests that intense effort of either type may impose a comparable autonomic burden, at least in this population and time frame. That has real implications for how training loads are planned in the days leading up to competition.

Read full study: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/14/7/299

2. Heart Rate Variability as an Objective Biomarker for Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk: A Cross-Sectional Study of Hong Kong (China) Professionals

PUBLICATION: Exploration of Musculoskeletal Diseases

AUTHORS: Adrian Low, Benny Lam

KEY FINDING:

In 105 Hong Kong office professionals, lower heart rate variability coherence was associated with higher musculoskeletal pain intensity and a broader spread of pain across the body, even after accounting for self-reported stress. Forward head posture and thoracic kyphosis helped explain part of the relationship between coherence and neck and shoulder pain, and daily sedentary hours changed the strength of the overall association.

SIGNIFICANCE:

This cross-sectional study points to heart rate variability coherence a...