The Effect of Stretching on Aerobic Exercise Heart Rate Experiment

DESIGN
Introduction: Aerobic exercise is essentially an extended activity that involves major muscle groups and increases in respiratory and heart rate. Stair climbing is an excellent example of an aerobic exercise that primarily involves the usage of major muscle groups in the body, such as the quadriceps and calf muscles in the legs. It can be considered as being very strenuous if the duration and distance of the exercise is taken into consideration. Furthermore, it is an aerobic exercise that requires few materials. Therefore, it is a well-suited exercise for a heart rate experiment. Moreover, stretching is often practiced by athletes prior to sporting events in order to loosen up muscles and increase blood flow. Since the muscle groups primarily associated with stair climbing have a wide variety of stretches, it is relatively easy to quantitatively determine the relationship between stretching before stair climbing and heart rate during the exercise. Purpose: To determine whether stretching relevant muscle groups, such as the quadriceps and calf muscles, before an aerobic exercise like stair climbing will affect the rate of increase in heart rate during the exercise. Hypothesis: Stretching the muscles before an exercise increases flexibility, range of joint motion and circulation (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009), which are all beneficial in exercise. Therefore, stretching leg muscles before stair climbing should be helpful in those aspects. Since stretching increases blood flow to certain muscle groups due to the increased oxygen requirement, it should logically have an effect on heart rate by causing it to increase to a higher-than-normal level before the actual exercise. For most people, aerobic exercise leads to a large increase in blood flow. If a person stretches before exercise, then blood is already flowing at an accelerated rate and thus heart rate should increase at a slower rate. Furthermore, since the muscle groups in question have already been stimulated, there should be less demand from the muscles for oxygen and blood compared to no stretching because they are already in an excited state. Thus, stretching the muscles before stair climbing should cause the rate of increase in heart rate to be more gradual than without stretching. Furthermore, psychological effects may also play a role. By stretching for a couple of minutes beforehand, the participant may experience an anticipatory response (Physiology & Psychology: Cardiovascular Factors, 1998), which may prematurely increase the heart rate of the participant before the stair climbing exercise. The potential psychological effect of this response on heart rate will be taken into consideration by using multiple individuals of different age groups, who should each have different psychological responses. If there is still a noticeable gap between stretching vs.

non-stretching trials in terms of heart rate, then it will be evident that stretching is the primary factor, and psychological factors are a potential secondary factor, instead of vice versa. Materials:

1 stopwatch 1 twelve step staircase (smaller or larger staircases are also acceptable) 1 heart rate monitor (if available) 1 wall (to lean against for stretching) Participants Independent: Stretching quadriceps and calf muscles in the legs before the stair climbing exercise. Dependent: Heart rate (beats per minute) of the participant. Controlled: The environmental conditions in the room that the staircase is located in must be controlled. These include temperature (20 degrees Celsius is acceptable), atmospheric pressure, audio interference, visual interference, and humidity. This can be done by using the same room for all participants. Furthermore, the procedure for each participant must be controlled. This includes the duration of stretching, duration of recovery time, duration of exercise, and types of stretching. This should allow all participants to have consistent results since the duration of the activities will be strictly controlled, along with the environment around them.

Variables:

Safety: Use caution while exercising. Do not engage in extreme or reckless behaviour. Stop stretching if pain is felt. If the participant has a medical condition, obtain permission from their doctor before proceeding with the experiment. Diagram of Lab Setup:

Figure 1: The staircase. The participant runs up and down the stairs for two minutes while the researcher operates the stopwatch. Procedure: 1. Bring the participant to the room or location where the staircase is located. for any potential audio or visual distractions and remove them. 2. Ensure that obstructions and other materials are cleared from the staircase. Check the room

3. Measure the participants heart rate by using a heart rate monitor. Alternatively, ask the participant to measure their heart rate. This can be done by placing fingers on the carotid artery on the neck or the radial artery on their wrist. Ask the participant to count the heart beats that they feel for 15 seconds. 4. Multiply this result by 4 in order to get beats per minute. Record this result in your data table. 5. Once the heart rate has been determined, prepare the participant for the stair climbing exercise. Inform them that they will have to ascend and descend the stairs as fast as possible. They should also not skip steps. Tally the number of times that the participant completely ascends or descends the staircase. Record this in your data table. 6. The exercise should last for 2 minutes. Use the stopwatch to determine the time accurately. 7. Upon completion of the exercise, repeat steps 3 and 4 to determine heart rate after exercise. 8. Allow the participant to rest for 30 minutes. This should provide sufficient time for the heart to resume a normal beating rhythm. Prevent the participant from partaking in any physically demanding task during this resting period. 9. Once the 30 minutes have ended, the second trial can begin. Commence stretching of the quadriceps muscle group by requesting that the participant bend their leg back such that it resembles the picture below. Ensure that the thigh remains in a vertical position. After 10 seconds, repeat this step for the other leg. Switch back and forth for a total of 1.5 minutes.

Figure 2: Thigh stretch. This stretch acts on the quadriceps muscle group (Thigh stretch: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Image, 2008). 10. To do the hamstring stretch, request that the participant place one foot in front of the other and lean on the one in front. It should resemble the picture below. Ensure that the thigh remains in a vertical position. After 10 seconds, repeat this step for the other leg. Switch back and forth for a total of 1.5 minutes.

Figure 3: Hamstring stretch. This stretch acts on the hamstrings in the legs (Hamstring stretch: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Image, 2008). 11. For some further stretching, the participant should face a wall, place both hands on the wall, and lean on one leg while stretching the other one. It should look like the picture below. After 10 seconds, switch legs. Do this for an additional 1.5 minutes.

Figure 4: Calf stretch. This stretch requires that the participant push on the wall with their hands while pushing down on their back leg (Kornberg). 12. By now, the participant should have done stretches for 4.5 minutes. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to determine heart rate after stretching. 13. Repeat step 5.

14. The exercise should last for 2 minutes. Use the stopwatch to determine the time accurately. 15. Upon completion of the exercise, repeat steps 3 and 4 to determine heart rate after exercise. 16. Repeat steps 1-15 on the next day until results for a total of 5 days for each individual have been recorded.

DATA COLLECTION
Table 1a: Exercise Data for 17-year-old Participant with Stretching
Flights of Stairs Trial ( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 5 19 18 19 18.5 18.5 Flights of Stairs Trial ( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 5 17 18.5 18 19.5 19 Flights of Stairs Average ( 0.5 flights) Trials with stretching Trials without stretching All trials 18.6 18.4 18.5 ( 4 beats/min) 86.4 84.8 85.6 ( 4 beats/min) 84 80 84 92 84 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 160 164 156 148 164 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 147.2 158.4 152.8 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 88 84 88 88 84 Resting Heart rate Heart rate after stretching ( 4 beats/min) 100 104 96 108 104 Final heart rate Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 148 152 140 152 144

Table 1b: Exercise Data for 17-year-old Participant without Stretching

Table 1c: Exercise Data Averages for 17-year-old Participant

Heart rate after stretching ( 4 beats/min) 102.4 N/A 102.4

Table 2a: Exercise Data for 8-year-old Participant with Stretching

Trial Flights of Stairs Resting Heart rate Heart rate after stretching Final heart rate

( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 5 15 16 17 16.5 15

( 4 beats/min) 92 96 92 104 92 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 100 96 96 100 96 Flights of Stairs

( 4 beats/min) 124 128 128 132 128 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 176 184 180 172 180

( 4 beats/min) 164 164 172 164 168

Table 2b: Exercise Data for 8-year-old Participant without Stretching

Flights of Stairs Trial ( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 5 14 14.5 17.5 17 15

Table 2c: Exercise Data Averages for 8-year-old Participant

Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 95.2 97.6 96.4 Average ( 0.5 flights) Trials with stretching Trials without stretching All trials 15.9 15.6 15.75 Heart rate after stretching ( 4 beats/min) 128.0 N/A 128.0 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 166.4 178.4 172.4

Table 3a: Exercise Data for 45-year-old Participant with Stretching

Flights of Stairs Trial ( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 13 14.5 14 14 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 76 84 84 80 Heart rate after stretching ( 4 beats/min) 88 88 92 92 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 108 112 112 104

13.5 Flights of Stairs

84 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 80 84 76 76 80 Resting Heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 81.6 79.2 80.4

96 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 120 124 116 120 128

112

Table 3b: Exercise Data for 45-year-old Participant without Stretching

Trial ( 0.5 flights) 1 2 3 4 5 14 14.5 15 13 14

Table 3c: Exercise Data Averages for 45-year-old Participant

Average Flights of Stairs Heart rate after stretching ( 4 beats/min) 91.2 N/A 91.2 Final heart rate ( 4 beats/min) 109.6 121.6 115.6

Trials with stretching Trials without stretching All trials

13.8 14.1 13.95

DATA PROCESSING
NOTE: Participant 1 is 17 years old, Participant 2 is 8 years old, and Participant 3 is 45 years old.

Figure 5: Heart rate comparison chart for Participant 1. In order to verify consistency in the data, the resting heart rate data for each participant should be examined. The resting heart rate is taken before stretching, if any, and thus should remain relatively constant between all trials, regardless of stretching. Therefore, any inconsistency in the initial resting heart rate of the participant would suggest an error in the experiment. The range of the results for resting heart rate appear to be relatively high (92-80=12), but it is important to note that the large majority of results fall between 84-88 beats per minute, which could be explained by the uncertainty involved in taking only a 15-second measure of heart rate. Moreover, most of the results fall within the uncertainty of 4 beats per minute. Thus it would appear that the initial resting heart rate results for Participant 1 are quite precise. Since the initial resting heart rates appear to be fairly similar between both stretching and nonstretching trials, it is evident that the experiment did not experience significant error in this aspect. This result was expected since initial heart rate should not vary significantly between trials, since the controlled variables should prevent significant deviation from occurring. Furthermore, if the uncertainties are taken into consideration, it is quite clear that most results were within each others uncertainties.

The position of the heart rate after stretching graph in Figure 5 supports the claim that stretching increases blood flow. Relative to the initial heart rate, there was a notable increase in heart rate (about 10+ additional beats per minute), which corresponds directly with an increased need for oxygen. In other words, stretching stimulated muscles such that the heart needed to pump blood at a faster rate in order to meet the oxygen requirements. Therefore the hypothesis appears to be valid thus far. At the end of the intense exercise session, there was a dramatic increase in heart rate, which corresponds to even larger demands for oxygen due to the vigorous nature of aerobic stair climbing. The data for Participant 1 appears to support the hypothesis in terms of the lowered final heart rate. Because there was already an increased demand for oxygen via blood, heart rate did not increase as quickly as it would have if there was not stretching before exercising. The final heart rate results for stretching vs. non-stretching trials do not fall into each others uncertainties for the most part, which makes them statistically significant. Although there is an anomaly in trial 4, the remainder of the data does appear to support the assertions in the hypothesis. If this trend appears in data of other participants, then it would be fair to say that stretching is a primary factor in the difference between heart rates because it would be a reproducible result between people of different psychological backgrounds and age groups.

Figure 6: Heart rate comparison chart for Participant 2. For the most part, the graphs in Figure 6 largely resemble the graphs in Figure 5, despite the age gap between the two participants. For instance, both participants had resting heart rates that did not deviate significantly from trial to trial, which is extremely good. Furthermore, the heart rate after stretching was notably higher than the resting heart rate. However, in this case, it appears that the gap between the heart rate after stretching and the resting heart rate was significantly higher than that of Figure 5. In Figure 5, the gap was about 10+ additional beats/minute, whereas in this graph, the gap appears to be about 30+ additional beats/minute. It is possible that this could be attributed to Participant 2s young age, because younger children have higher heart beat rates than older people because their hearts are smaller, and thus any stimulation in terms of physical activity could have a greater impact on children than adults. In addition, the final heart rate of stretching trials is lower than the final heart rate of nonstretching trials by an average of 10-15 beats/minute, which supports the claims in the hypothesis and the observations in Figure 5. This would seem to strongly suggest that stimulating the heart and muscles before the actual exercise causes the rate of heart rate increase to be lower than without stretching. Thus, the hypothesis appears to be valid so far. Since this gap has been observed in 2 participants so far, it would seem to suggest that stretching, not psychological

factors, are the primary reason for this gap. If the data from Participant 3 supports the claims in the hypothesis as well, then the hypothesis will appear to be valid, even though the sample pool is a bit small.

Figure 7: Heart rate comparison chart for Participant 3. On a superficial glance, this graph appears to confirm the patterns elaborated on in previous graphs. For instance, the resting heart rate is relatively consistent, the heart rate after stretching is notably higher than the resting rate, and the final heart rate for stretching trials is significantly lower than the final heart rate for non-stretching trials. It also illustrates the age trend noted earlier: Participant 2, a child, had great increase in heart rate after stretching than Participant 1, a youth. Participant 3, an adult, appears to have a relatively small increase between heart rate after stretching and resting heart rate relative to others. For instance, the gap between the two is often under 10 additional beats/minute, which suggests that the adult heart is more resistant to change in physical activity than the heart of a child. This is likely because the adult heart is significantly larger than that of a child. Hence there appears to be a direct correlation between age and rate of heart rate increase during stretching. However, this relationship does not appear in the final heart rate; there is still the same roughly 10 beats per minute gap between the nonstretching and stretching trials.

This graph also supports the claim in the hypothesis that heart rate does not increase as much when there is stretching prior to exercise because the heart and muscles have already been physically stimulated. Although the sample pool is a bit small, the data here still strongly shows a correlation between stretching and heart rate. As illustrated by Tables 1c, 2c and 3c on the previous pages, each participant had a noticeable increase in heart rate after aerobic exercise; however, the increase was significantly higher for non-stretching trials compared to stretching trials. For instance, participant 3 had a final heart rate of 109.6 after exercise in the stretching trials, and a final heart rate of 121.6 after exercise in the non-stretching trials. The difference between the two values is not minute; it is approximately a 10% gap, which makes it statistically significant. Since this pattern can be seen in all the aforementioned tables, albeit with gaps of different sizes, it is quite evident that there appears to be a connection between exercising with stretching compared to exercising without stretching. It is also worthwhile to examine whether or not the stair climbing exercise suggests that stretching leads to enhanced performance, due to aerobic exercises beneficial impact on the cardiovascular system.

Figure 8: Flight of stairs climbed by Participant 1.

Figure 9: Flight of stairs climbed by Participant 2.

Figure 10: Flight of stairs climbed by Participant 2. These three graphs seem to illustrate that there is little, if any, correlation between performance in stair climbing and stretching since the results are extremely close and often fall into each others uncertainties. However, it is unknown if this is a situation unique to stair climbing or whether stretching has little effect on aerobic exercise as a whole. This will be difficult to determine without an additional experiment, which is outside the scope of this lab. Overall, the performance results appear to be inconclusive in relation to stretching.

CONCLUSION
The objective of this experiment, as stated previously, was to determine whether stretching relevant muscle groups, such as the quadriceps and calf muscles, before an aerobic exercise like stair climbing will affect the rate of increase in heart rate during the exercise. Throughout the data analysis section, there has been a clear revelation of two major trends: the so-called age trend and the stretching and heart rate trend. The former relates to the increase in heart rate after stretching relative to resting heart rate. For all three subjects, the size of the increase appears to be related to the age of the participant. For instance, the increase between the heart rate after stretching and resting heart rate for Participant 2, a child, was extremely largeroughly 30+ additional beats per minute. This is contrasted by the small increase between the two items for Participant 3, an adult; this participants heart rate increased by less than 10 beats per minute after stretching. Participant 1, a youth, had a post-stretching heart rate increase that was roughly between that of Participants 1 and 3. This is likely due to the differences in heart size: adults have larger hearts than youths and children, in general. Thus, the age trend appears to be contingent on the age of the participant, or more precisely, the size of their heart. The other trend discovered through data analysis was the stretching and heart rate trend predicted by the hypothesis. This trend was predicted by the hypothesis because it would be logical for heart rate to increase less with stretching prior to exercise than without. Stretching before exercise stimulates the heart and muscles prior to exercise, which theoretically lessens the shock of exercise, and consequently leads to a slower increase in a heart rate compared to exercise without stretching beforehand. This trend was evident in the data of all 3 participants; all of them registered a gap between stretching and non-stretching post-exercise heart rates of roughly 10 beats per minute, which is statistically significant since it does not fall under the uncertainties specified by the graphs. Hence the trend appeared to have been confirmed through experimental data. It does appear that the purpose of this experiment was achieved, since the trend suggested in the purpose between stretching certain leg muscles and stair climbing was observed in the experimental data of all 3 participants. However, it is beyond the scope of this experiment to speculate whether this is a phenomenon unique to stair climbing or aerobic exercise in general.

EVALUATION
The simple, reproducible nature of this experiment would likely be its main strength. Few materials are needed in order to conduct this experiment, and it does not take significant amounts of special talent or analysis to perform it properly. It is not a highly technical lab that requires expensive lab equipment. Instead, a simple aerobic exercise like stair climbing and a simple quantitative measurement like heart beats per minute were chosen to be the focus of this

experiment. There is little ambiguity over the nature of stair climbing and heart beat; thus, the chance of misinterpretation is lowered. Therefore this experiment could be implemented across the globe and results can be easily obtained by individuals without significant post-experiment analysis or calculations. This experiment also benefited from its flexible nature. For example, participants of any age group, gender or background could do this experiment without affecting the procedure. If one desired to focus specifically on a certain nationality, then the experiment could be easily adjusted to allow it. Not only was the experiment extremely flexible, but also the multiple trials specified in the procedure, and the incorporation of several participant into this experiment allow the results to be precise and verifiable. It also allows outlier data to be observed very quickly. Thus, this experiment has significant scientific potential and consistency, especially due to the incorporation of items such as multiple trials with a pool of participants. In essence, the simplicity and flexibility of this experiment were great benefits to this experiment. However, this experiment was limited by the small sample group and time requirements. For instance, this iteration of the experiment had only 3 subjects, which is a very small sample group in the scientific community. In the scientific community, experiments often require hundreds, if not thousands, of participants in order to verify findings and results because of the variability of living organisms. It was hard to recruit a large number of individuals into this experiment due to lack of interest and perhaps more importantly, time. Most individuals, especially International Baccalaureate students, have a large agenda that they have to deal with every day, and thus they cannot handle an additional burden on their time. This experiment would be a burden on time because of the time spent on stretching, exercising and resting for several days. This is perhaps why large scientific studies often offer financial incentives to participants, but most student researchers cannot afford to provide financial incentives. Thus, this experiment was largely hindered by problems with participant recruitment, which were largely based on issues with time and interest. In order to solve this problem for a future experiment, one could attempt to recruit family members, since they are stereotypically more likely to agree to requests without the preconditions specified previously. Although they might face time management issues, it is likely that family members are more willing to accept experiment participation requests in comparison to groups of individuals such as International Baccalaureate Diploma students (unless this experiment is embedded in the CAS program somehow). An alternate approach to this dilemma would involve publishing the experimental procedure in a community newspaper or the Internet and requesting that individuals submit their results. This is similar to the approach of several scientific experiments, such as the famous BOINC@Home, which is a computing project which draws upon the power of millions of personal computers to solve scientific problems. The problem with this approach would be verification of results, but thorough data analysis would allow a researcher to determine whether or not procedural or recording errors took place.

Works Cited

Hamstring stretch: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Image. (2008, July 22). Retrieved February 20, 2010, from MedlinePlus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19485.htm Kornberg, C. (n.d.). Heel Pain. Retrieved February 23, 2010, from Charlie Kornbergs Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Home Page: http://spinalphysio.kornberg.net/heel_pain.html Mayo Clinic Staff. (2009, February 21). Stretching: Focus on flexibility MayoClinic.com. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from MayoClinic.com: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/hq01447 Physiology & Psychology: Cardiovascular Factors. (1998, April). Retrieved February 22, 2010, from Montana State University-Bozeman: http://btc.montana.edu/olympics/physiology/cf01.html Thigh stretch: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Image. (2008, July 22). Retrieved February 20, 2010, from MedlinePlus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19487.htm

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