Effects of rest interval on strength recovery in breast cancer survivors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effect of 2 different resting intervals (RI) between sets of isokinetic knee extension exer- cise on peak torque (PT) and total work (TW) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) and control group (CNT). 16 BCS (52 ± 4 years) and 14 CNT (53 ± 6 years) performed 3 sets of 10 unilateral isoki- netic knee extension repetitions at 60 °.s − 1 on 2 separate days with 2 different RI between sets (1 and 2 min). There was a significant interaction between groups vs. exercise sets (p = 0.03) and RI vs. exercise sets (p < 0.001) for PT. PT was greater in CNT at 1 st and 2 nd sets compared to BCS group (CNT, 133.4 ± 20.8 and BCS 107.6 ± 19.9 Nm, p = 0.012 and CNT, 118.9 ± 19.6 and BCS, 97.1 ± 15.9 Nm, p = 0.045, respectively). The TW of the knee extensor was significant greater in CNT than BCS group for all 3 knee extension exercise sets. In conclusion, the present study suggests that Breast Cancer Survivors women may need a longer rest interval (longer than 2 min) to be able to fully recover during a 3 sets of isokinetic knee extension exercise training ses- sion.