Cardiovascular/Circulatory
System
Sports Training and Physiology
Kociuba
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Circulatory System - Objectives
• Describe the structures and functions of
the Cardiovascular System
• Describe cardiac muscle
• Label the chambers of the heart
• Explain the process of blood flow
throughout the heart
• Decipher what blood pressure is and how
to take it
Circulatory System - Objectives
• Describe the structures and functions of
arteries, veins, and capillaries
• List major arteries and veins in the body
• Explain how the systems responds to
exercise and shock
Functions of the Heart
• Generating blood pressure
– Contractions generate blood pressure
• Routing blood
– Pulmonary circulation
– Systemic circulation
• Regulating blood supply
– Changes in rate and force of heart contraction
match blood flow to the demands of the body
The Heart
Happy Valentine’s Day!
• About the size of a
clenched fist
• Beats about 3 billion
times in a person’s
lifetime
The Heart Wall
Composed of 3 tissues
• Epicardium
– Thin membrane forms
the smooth outer
surface of the heart
• Myocardium
– Thick middle layer
composed of cardiac
muscle
• Endocardium
– Inner surface that
allows blood to move
easily through the
heart
Anatomy of the Heart and Major
Blood Vessels
4 chambers in the heart
• 2 atria
– Right
– Left
• 2 ventricles
– Right
– Left
6 large veins
• Superior vena cava
• Inferior vena cava
• 4 Pulmonary veins
2 large arteries
• Pulmonary trunk
• Aorta
Heart Valves
• Atrioventricular (AV) Valve
– Tricuspid Valve: This AV valve located
between the right atrium and right ventricle
– Bicuspid/Mitral Valve: This AV valve located
between the left atrium and left ventricle
• Semilunar Valves
– Aortic semilunar valve: in the aorta
– Pulmonary semilunar valve: in the pulmonary
trunk
Anatomy of the Heart
Conducting System of the Heart
• The Sinoatrial Node or
SA node is capable of
creating it’s own electrical
impulse to get the heart
started beating.
• This impulse then travels
down to the
Atrioventricular node or
AV node and around the
ventricles in the bundles
and branches to create
the contraction to push
the blood out of the
ventricles.
What exactly is our heart beat?
Heart Rate and Pulse
• Pulse is the beating
of your heart that you
can hear with a
stethoscope and feel
at pulse points
• Heart rate is the
amount of times your
heart beats in one
minute.
Aging and the Heart
• By the age of 70 cardiac output is
decreased by 1/3
• Aging cardiac muscle needs more time to
contract and relax thus maximum heart
rate is decreased
• Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is age
related
• Exercise prolongs these from happening
Blood Vessels and Circulation
Arteries
• Blood vessels that
Classified As:
carry blood away from • Elastic arteries
the heart. As they get • Muscular arteries
further away, they the • Small arteries
become smaller and
• Arterioles
smaller.
Capillaries
• The smallest of the blood vessels their
diameter is a little larger than a red blood
cell
• The thin wall of the capillaries facilitate
diffusion between the capillaries and the
surrounding cells
Veins
• Carry blood from the
capillaries toward the
heart. As they get
closer the become
bigger and bigger.
• Classified as:
•
Venules
• Small veins
• Medium veins
• Large veins
Aging and the Arteries
• Arteriosclerosis
– Hardening of the
arteries
– As people age,
degenerative changes
make the arteries less
elastic
• Atherosclerosis
– Deposits of material in
the walls of the
arteries
– These deposits form
plaques.
Blood Pressure
• Measure of the force that is exerted from
blood against the blood vessel’s walls
• 2 measurements
– Systolic: when the blood is forced out of the
ventricles and into the arteries
– Diastolic: when the ventricles relax blood
moves at a minimum value
• We listen to blood pressure with a
sphygmomanometer and stethoscope
Circulatory System Lab
Please read and we will go over
how to take blood pressure…
How to take your blood pressure
1. Place the cuff of the sphygmomanometer
on the participant’s arm right above the
elbow. Giving them just enough room to
bend the elbow.
2. Pump the cuff up enough that it is
applying pressure to the upper part of the
arm but not so tight that the participant is
uncomfortable.
How to take your blood pressure
3. Place the stethoscope on the crease of
the participant’s elbow.
4. Slowly release the pressure in the cuff
while listening with the stethoscope.
5. When you hear the first sound of a heart
beat, remember the number because this
is the systolic number of their blood
pressure.
How to take your blood pressure
6. Continue to release the pressure and
note the number on the
sphygmomanometer when the sounds
disappear. This number is the
participant’s diastolic pressure number.
7. Put the systolic number over the diastolic
number and you have a resting blood
pressure for your participant.