One year of isometric exercise training for blood pressure management in men: a prospective randomized controlled study

Abstract

Objective: Isometric exercise training (IET) over 4-12 weeks is an effective antihypertensive intervention. However, blood pressure (BP) reductions are reversible if exercise is not maintained. No work to date has investigated the long-term effects of IET on resting BP.Methods: We randomized 24 unmedicated patients with high-normal BP to a 1-year wall squat IET intervention or nonintervention control group. Resting BP and various clinically important haemodynamic variables, including heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were measured pre and post the 1-year study period.Results: One year of IET produced statistically significant reductions in resting systolic (-8.5 AE 5 mmHg, P < 0.001) and diastolic (-7.3 AE 5.8 mmHg, P < 0.001) BP compared with the control group. There was also a significant reduction in resting HR (-4.2 AE 3.7 b/min, P ¼ 0.009) and a significant increase in SV (11.2 AE 2.8 ml, P ¼ 0.012), with no significant change in CO (0.12 AE 2.8 l/min, P ¼ 0.7). TPR significantly decreased following IET (-246 AE 88 dyneÁs/cm 5 , P ¼ 0.011). Adherence to the IET sessions was 77% across all participants (3x IET sessions per week), with no participant withdrawals. Conclusion:This novel study supports IET as an effective long-term strategy for the management of resting BP, producing clinically important, chronic BP adaptations in patients at risk of hypertension. Importantly, this work also demonstrates impressive long-term adherence rates, further supporting the implementation of IET as a means of effective BP management in clinical populations.

Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

“…However, the outcomes of this analysis support our previous work,24 which concluded that IET was the superior antihypertensive exercise mode. While IET may still require larger-scale longitudinal RCTs,51 55 its clinical implementation as the primary recommended exercise mode in managing blood pressure in normotensive, prehypertensive and hypertensive individuals is supported by the present results. Importantly, the previous work of Cornelissen and Smart21 included only four IET trials in 2013.…”

The Effect of Physical Activity on Arterial Stiffness, Inflammation and Lipoproteins among 30–65-Year-Old Men

“…Thi could attribute to reduced trainability of the heart muscle with advancing age. A recent small RCT among approximately 45-year-old men with high normal BP found that a 1-year isometric exercise training intervention reduced RHR without significant changes in cardiac output (O'Driscoll et al, 2022). In our study there was no change in RHR with higher activity levels in 30-to 65-year-old males with or without MetS.…”

Feasibility study to assess the delivery of a novel isometric exercise intervention for people with high blood pressure in a healthcare setting

“…The study demonstrated significant office sBP reductions of -11.2 mmHg for hand grip and -12.9 mmHg for wall squat groups compared to control (-4 mmHg) but reported a larger magnitude of difference between the wall squat and control. Furthermore, the only study to investigate longitudinal efficacy of IE training as an antihypertensive intervention beyond this duration showed significant reductions (P<0.001) in clinic sBP (-9 mmHg) and dBP (-7 mmHg) compared with control following 1-year of isometric wall squat training in prehypertensive males 37 .…”