Heart rate recovery · HRR
Purpose
Use this test to see how quickly your client's heart rate falls after a hard effort. You record the heart rate when the effort stops and again 1 minute later. The drop is the result.
The early drop reflects the vagus nerve slowing the heart again. In adults referred for an exercise test, Cole and colleagues found that a small drop predicted a higher risk of death.
Procedure
- Preparation
- Use a heart rate monitor. Choose a hard effort your client already does safely in training, and use the same effort each time.
- Equipment
- Heart rate monitor and a stopwatch
Finish the effort
Read the heart rate at the moment your client stops, and start the stopwatch.
Recover for 1 minute
Your client walks slowly, or stays still standing, sitting or lying. Make the same choice every time.
Read at 1 minute
Read the heart rate again at exactly 1 minute.
Scoring
The score is the heart rate when the effort stops minus the heart rate 1 minute later.
Interpretation
Compare drops measured after the same effort and the same recovery. The calculator shows the drop without a label.
Sources
- Cole, Blackstone, Pashkow, Snader and Lauer: heart-rate recovery immediately after exercise as a predictor of mortality (1999)New England Journal of Medicine 341(18):1351–1357. Definition of the 1-minute drop and the 12 bpm cut-off.
- Shetler and colleagues: heart rate recovery, validation and methodologic issues (2001)Journal of the American College of Cardiology 38(7):1980–1987. The drop at 2 minutes in men referred for chest pain.
Sources checked by SoloTrainer.net · 25 Sep