Fig. 3
Relationship in the time course of beat-to-beat LBF (a) and LVC (b) during IMC and muscle relaxation. The magnitude of both beat-to-beat leg blood flow (LBF) and leg vascular conductance (LVC) during isometric muscle contraction (IMC) represented a statistically exponential increase (P < 0.001; r 2 value, range 0.956 to 0.998 for LBF, 0.966 to 0.998 for LVC) from the onset to the end of IMC at all target workloads with no significant difference among target workloads. Both beat-to-beat LBF and LVC during muscle relaxation showed a significant linear decline (P < 0.001; r 2 value, range 0.960 to 0.998 for LBF, 0.889 to 0.998 for LVC) from the onset to the end of muscle relaxation at all target workloads. Both beat-to-beat LBF and LVC in muscle relaxation are greater compared to pre-exercise (*P < 0.05). The regression and curve fitting for 90 % MVC were statistically weak because there were only two subjects. The values are expressed as means ± standard error (only mean value with dotted line for 90 % MVC). Pre-ex. pre-exercise, %MVC percentage of maximum voluntary contraction