Objective: Passive muscle stretching is a common physical therapy for critically ill patients in the intensive care units. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of unilateral passive stretching of the gastrocnemius muscle (GM) before and after surgery on blood volume (BV) in the contralateral (non-stretched) GM in patients who are sedated after surgery.
Methods: We enrolled eight patients with esophageal cancer. The patients completed two sessions of passive cyclical stretching (20-s hold, 10-s release, 10 cycles) of the right GM: one before surgery (awake) and one after (under sedation). We used near-infrared spectroscopy to measure the BV in the stretched and contralateral GM. BV kinetics were compared between the ipsilateral and contralateral GM.
Results: In seven of the eight patients, BV in the stretched GM decreased during stretching and increased during the stretch-relaxation phase, both before and after surgery. Both before and after surgery, the change in the BV in the contralateral GM was inversely synchronized to the stretching cycle.
Conclusions: Unilateral passive stretching of the GM influenced the microcirculation of the contralateral GM. The mechanism underlying the synchronous change in the BV in the contralateral GM remains to be clarified.