Why Does Blood Rush to the Head During Pushups?

[hivesaeed4]

While doing pushups why does an individual feel a lot of blood in his/her head region? Its like a lot of blood has flown into the head which is surprising considering that during pushups either the body is horizontal or slightly tilted with the head higher than the rest of the body so blood should not accumulate in the head. Also, is it dangerous?

 

[Dzheezus]

It is because of centrifugal force while doing pushups. Your feet are fixed but hands are moving effectively creating centrifuge with radius of almost your height. If you do pushups fast enough - cerebral hemorrhage might occur.

 

[SW VandeCarr]

It is because of centrifugal force while doing pushups. Your feet are fixed but hands are moving effectively creating centrifuge with radius of almost your height. If you do pushups fast enough - cerebral hemorrhage might occur.

Do you have a reference for this or is this your personal theory? It's true that blood pressure increases (mostly systolic) with vigorous exercise and there is a possibility of a stroke in susceptible people, such as those with brain aneurysms. However, your theory regarding centrifugal force doesn't make sense. The arc of motion is fairly short and the angular velocity attained is nothing compared to a centrifuge. What's more important is the rapid and repeated reversal of direction of motion of the head and neck. If the head-neck alignment with the spine is not kept straight and rigid, there are risks of blood vessel damage.

stroke.ahajournals.org/content/33/8/1945.full