Managing Cardiometabolic Risk

Exercise and Thrombosis

Thrombosis (the formation of a blood clot in an intact blood vessel) is a key precursor to stroke, myocardial infarction, and other overt symptoms of blood flow obstruction throughout the circulatory system (99). While physical inactivity is a major risk factor for thrombosis, an acute bout of strenuous exercise has been reported to cause a prothrombotic state and predispose sedentary and at-risk individuals to cardiovascular events (99, 100). A number of investigations and reviews (99-101) have examined the relationship between acute and chronic exercise. Their findings as well as various hemostatic and fibrinolytic factors that contribute to thrombosis are summarized below.