Isometric exercise training most effective for lowering blood pressure
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Key takeaways:
- Various exercise training modes were linked to reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
- The most effective exercise training mode for lowering BP was isometric exercise training.
Several exercise training modes improved blood pressure, but the most effective mode was isometric exercise training, researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Isometric exercise training, which includes exercises such as wall sits and planks that engage the muscles without movement, conferred the greatest BP reductions, but aerobic exercise training, dynamic resistance training, combined training and high-intensity interval training all were associated with reductions in systolic and diastolic BP, the researchers wrote.
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Jamie J. Edwards, PhD, researcher in the School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom, and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of 270 randomized controlled trials including 15,827 participants. All trials reported the effect of exercise interventions lasting at least 2 weeks on systolic and/or diastolic BP compared with a control group.
Pairwise analyses demonstrated that the following exercise interventions were associated with reductions in resting systolic and diastolic BP (P < .001 for all):
- aerobic exercise training (systolic, –4.49 mm Hg; diastolic, –2.53 mm Hg);
- dynamic resistance training (systolic, –4.55 mm Hg; diastolic, –3.04 mm Hg);
- combined training (systolic, –6.04 mm Hg; diastolic, –2.54 mm Hg);
- high-intensity interval training (systolic, –4.08 mm Hg; diastolic, –2.5 mm Hg); and
- isometric exercise training (systolic, –8.24 mm Hg; diastolic, –4 mm Hg).
The rank order of effectiveness based on surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) values was isometric exercise training (SUCRA, 98.3%), combined training (SUCRA, 75.7%), dynamic resistance training (SUCRA, 46.1%), aerobic exercise training (SUCRA, 40.5%) and high-intensity interval training (SUCRA, 39.4%), the researchers wrote.
In secondary network meta-analyses of submodes of exercise training, the most effective submode for reducing systolic BP was isometric wall sits (SUCRA, 90.4%) and the most effective submode for reducing diastolic BP was running (SUCRA, 91.3%), Edwards and colleagues found.
“Aerobic exercise training, dynamic resistance training, combined training, high-intensity interval training and isometric exercise training are all significantly effective in reducing resting systolic BP and diastolic BP,” Edwards and colleagues wrote. “Comparatively, isometric exercise training remains the most effective mode. The findings of this analysis should inform future guideline recommendations.”
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