Cardiovascular Reaction to Orthostatic Test Among Non-functional Overreaching Athletes with Vegetative Disorders (The Physical Therapist Perspective)

Aim: The non-functional overreaching requires a deeper study because its diagnosing is not based on conventional methods. Orthostatic and clinostatic tests make it easy and quick to detect health problems. The purpose of this research is defining orthostatic reactions among 68 athletes with and without signs of non-functional overreaching. Materials and Methods: Our research comprises 2 groups of 68 athletes subdivided by presence of non-functional overreaching. The first group includes 27 persons with vegetative disorder signs. The second group covers 41 individuals without non-functional overreaching. For all of them, we conducted orthostatic tests to record blood pressure and heart rate horizontally and vertically. Results: The research showed that 9 athletes (33.3% of the O+ group) had unsatisfactory results after body tests in horizontal and vertical positions. All athletes revealed the orthostatic tolerance disorder. For 5 sportsmen, the latter was accompanied by the clinostatic overreaction. Resting heart rate did not vary considerably between both groups (р=0.412). However, orthostatic tests reflected the sharp index rise among 9 individuals. For non-functional overreaching athletes, the mean value (р<0.001) exceeded the corresponding one in the O- group more than twofold. Conclusions: Although today it is possible to differentiate orthostatic-clinostatic tolerance from vegetative dysfunction, further research must be conducted to clarify this syndrome types and to improve physical recovery for non-functional overreaching athletes.