Subacute blood pressure behavior in elderly hypertensive women after resistance exercise session

The objective of this study was to determine the subacute blood pressure behavior of pharmacologically-treated elderly hypertensive patients after a session of resistance exercise. This was a controlled clinical trial carried out on 30 elderly hypertensive women. The study procedures took place over three days with an interval of 48 hours, and included a test session, an experimental protocol (EP) and a control protocol (CP).

A 10RM test was carried out to define the EP load for the following exercises: leg press, knee extension, pull-up, biceps curl and machine bench press. In the EP, three sets of exercises with 8 to 10 repetitions were carried out at 2-minute intervals. In the CP all procedures were the same as in the EP, but without the exercises. BP was measured before, immediately after and every ten minutes up to 60 minutes after the EP and CP.

There was no significant variation in systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in either the EP or the CP immediately after the exercises. In the period up to sixty minutes after the exercises, there was a significant difference in BP, with a decrease in SBP and DBP for both EP and CP.

The data from the present study offer a good indication that resistance exercises may be prescribed safely to this group of patients. The pressure reduction appears to be influenced by the rest that occurred after the protocols and not by exercise.