The Role of Isometric Exercise Training on Reductions in Resting Blood Pressure: Human Trials and the Influence of Peripheral Vasoactive and Inflammatory Biomarkers

1 online resource (254 pages) : PDF

2012

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Approximately 1 billion people worldwide and ~87 million adults in the United States alone are affected by hypertension [HTN: high blood pressure (HBP)]. Primary treatment avenues for HBP management include lifestyle modification (e.g. diet, exercise, weight loss, and smoking cessation) and pharmacological therapy. Research has indicated isometric exercise training (IET) is associated with lowering resting blood pressure (RBP). This activity is safe, relatively inexpensive, and easy to perform. While generally effective several factors may influence the degree of responsiveness to IET including age, chronic disease, current pharmacological management, time spent exercising, home-based training, effects of systemic biomarkers, and muscle mass. Therefore the aims of this dissertation were to determine the significance of several contributing factors including time, age, disease, the efficacy of home-based isometric exercise, biomarkers, and muscle mass on reductions in RBP following IET. This work identified the lasting effects of an extended isometric exercise training program (chapter 2), outlines the importance of disease and medications regimen in subject responsiveness to intervention (chapter 3), proposes the positive implications for home-based programming for training dissemination to the greater hypertensive population (chapter 4), and begins to elucidate upon unknown mechanisms contributing to lowered RBP following IET (chapter 5). In chapter 2, I assessed whether or not completing 12 weeks of IET programming can improve high blood pressure measures and sustain positive outcomes over extended periods of detraining in older recreationally active adults. In chapter 3, I assessed the efficacy of IET in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation patients. In Chapter 4, I evaluated efficacy of home-based training regimens compared to face-to-face lab-based protocols. In chapter 5, I assessed whether or not completing 6-weeks of IET in two different muscle groups influences both RBP and biomarkers of vasoactivity and inflammation acutely and with training. This dissertation will help to disseminate a critical next step, providing an opportunity for effective programming with hopes of characterizing a mechanism contributing to BP reductions induced by IET thus aiding in the fight against HBP both in the lab and in the community.

doctoral dissertations

Biology
Kinesiology
Physiology

Ph.D.

Biological Sciences
Blood Pressure
Health and Environmental Sciences
Isometric Exercise Training

Biology

Howden, Reuben

Leamy, Larry
Marino, Joseph
Reitzel, Adam
Bennett, Jeanette

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2012.

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Gordon_uncc_0694D_11684

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:605