21/12/2022
Isometric handgrip training 💪 to lower blood pressure 🩺 ❤️
🩺 Systemic arterial hypertension (HTN) is characterized by sustained elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at rest (≥ 140/90 according to the Guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension 2021). https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/fulltext/2021/07000/2021_european_society_of_hypertension_practice.5.aspx
🌎 In 2019, the global worldwide prevalence of hypertension in adults aged 30–79 years was 32% (95% CrI 30–34) in women and 34% (32–37) in men. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)01330-1/fulltext
🫀 An increase by 20 mmHg in SBP and/or by10 mmHg in DBP are closely associated with high mortality rates from coronary artery disease and stroke. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(02)11911-8/fulltext, https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.str.0000437068.30550.cf
💊 The SBP-lowering effect of exercise among hypertensive populations appears similar to that of commonly used antihypertensive medications. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30563873/
🏃 Aerobic training of moderate intensity is the primary modality recommended in the management of hypertension (class of recommendation I and level of evidence A) which should be complemented by dynamic resistance training.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23608661/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26423529/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30165516/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33909761/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32389335/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32370572/
👊 Oliveira et al. examined the blood pressure lowering effect of a simple and easy to perform isometric handgrip training (IHGT) in individuals with hypertension. As a result of their meta-analysis, the authors concluded that IHGT reduced SBP/DBP in individuals with hypertension with clinically important reductions in SBP (–6.7 mmHg) and DBP (–4.5 mmHg). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41371-022-00778-7.
Contrary to these chronic training effects, a single session of handgrip exercise didn´t produce an acute post-exercise hypotensive effect.
💡 The main F**T components (frequency, intensity, time, and type of exercise) are:
📍 F (frequency) of 3 times per week;
📍 I (intensity) at 30% MVC, maximum voluntary contraction (easy to determine with a handgrip dynamometer (s. picture)
📍 T (time) average session duration of 25 minutes (4 sets of contractions sustained for 2 minutes plus 1-minute rest interval between them); and
📍 T (type of exercise) bilateral isometric handgrip
📣 Conclusion:
IHGT seems to be an easy to perform and time efficient alternative approach in the management of HTN with clinically important blood pressure reductions.