Effect of Low-intensity Strength Training on Blood Pressure of Elderly Patients with Hypertension

PURPOSE: It is considered necessary for elderly people to maintain/improve their muscle strength to avoid falling or becoming bedridden, and therefore, strength training is highly recommended for them. However, strength training can be harmful for elderly people because it can cause an increase in arterial stiffness and blood pressure. As a means to improve patients' muscle strength without further stiffening their arteries, low-intensity strength training can be considered; however, limited information is available about the causal relationship between low-intensity strength training and changes in muscle strength, blood pressure, and arterial stiffness of patients. Therefore, in this study, We administered elderly high blood pressure patients with low-intensity strength training and examined the changes in their muscle strength and blood pressure before and after training. METHODS: The study included 77 elderly patients >65 years of age. The training period varied from three months to six years. The patients were asked to receive six different types of strength training once or twice a week. The force level during training was approximately 50% of the maximum voluntary contraction. RESULTS: Based on blood pressure values before training, we divided the patients into three groups, Grade-1 hypertension (n = 31), high normal (n = 20), and normal (n = 26), following the standard of WHO/ISH (1999).Systolic blood pressure decreased from 148.2 mmHg to 125.1 mmHg (a decrease of 15.4%) in the Grade-1 group, from 135.3 mmHg to 123.7 mmHg (a decrease of 8.5%) in the high normal group and from 123.3 mmHg to 115.0 mmHg (a decrease of 6.5%) in the normal group throughout training, indicating a significant decrease in all three groups. Higher the blood pressure values were before training, a greater was the decrease after training. Decreases in diastolic blood pressure were also recognized in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study clarifies that low-intensity training is effective in lowering the blood pressure of elderly patients, and that higher the blood pressure is before training, greater is the decrease after training. This indicates that although training is of low intensity, it still affects vascular endothelium function; consequently, it may also affect vascular stiffness/compliance.