The Effects of Brief Periods of Exercise on Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a common medical condition that affects the body's arteries. It's also called hypertension. Untreated hypertension increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other serious health problems. Exercise is a promising tool in hypertension management. Regular participation in exercise improves vascular health, heart and lung function, and multisystem health. However, the direct evidence of the treatment effects of a brief period of exercise on blood pressure in individuals with hypertension is limited. A brief period of exercise refers to an exercise protocol that only lasts for a very short period of time, such as 5-10 minutes.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Pre Hypertension; Hypertension (HTN)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: wall-squat-tradition; Behavioral: wall-squat

Detailed Description

The study will investigate both acute and long-term effects of a brief exercise on blood pressure. For the acute effect, participants will conduct a single bout of resistance exercise (leg press) with or without blood flow restriction technique. The blood pressure changes from pre- to post-exercise will be monitored. The long-term effect of exercise on blood pressure will be examined through a six to eight weeks home-based intervention program. Participants will conduct two forms of exercise, one is a clustered wall-sit exercise and the other is a scattered wall-sit exercise.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 45
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jinghui Yang, PT, MPT, PhD; Phone Number: 347-429-0843; Email: jiyang@hartford.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, 06117
      • Recruiting
      • University of Hartford
      • Contact: Jinghui Yang; Phone Number: 3474290843; Email: jiyang@hartford.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-55 yrs.
• 24 hour average BP >110/70 mmHg, but < 160 systolic blood pressure
• Able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Currently taking anti-hypertensive medication smokers and alcohol drinkers Inability to undertake exercise intervention (resistance and isometric exercise)

Current medical history of any of the following:

hyperaldosteronism Diabetes mellitus (Type 1 or type 2) Heart disease Stroke or transient ischemic attack Peripheral neuropathy Aortic aneurysm and/or peripheral arterial disease If female, pregnancy or currently breast feeding Enrolled in another Clinical Trial of an Interventional Medicinal Product or Medical Device or other interventional study Medical condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would make the participant unsuitable for the study On long term warfarin Allergies to blood pressure cuff materials or ultrasound gel

Previous medication history of any of the following:

hyperaldosteronism Heart disease Stroke or transient ischemic attack Peripheral neuropathy Aortic aneurysm and/or peripheral arterial disease thromboembolism Infection within limb within 3 months On long term warfarin Allergies to blood pressure cuff materials or ultrasound gel

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Non-Ex control group
Active Comparator: Clustered Ex Condition	Behavioral: wall-squat-tradition; The other exercise group will do 4 sets of wall squat in a continuous way.
Experimental: Scattered Ex Condition	Behavioral: wall-squat; the experimental group will complete the four sets of wall-squats at four different times across the day: morning, noon, afternoon, night.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
24 h blood pressure	The average, peak and variations of 24 h SBP and DBP, daytime SBP and DBP, night time SBP and DBP will be measured before and after the intervention.	From the enrollment to the end of the study at six weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
endothelial function	endothelial function measured by flow mediated dilation	at baseline (Day 1) and Week 6
arterial stiffness	arterial stiffness measured by pulse wave velocity	at baseline (Day 1) and week 6

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Hartford

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 15, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 2, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): March 6, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 1, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: isometric exericse
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Hypertension; Prehypertension
• Other Study ID Numbers: 25-12-505

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The data and protocol can be shared with other researchers by request after publication.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: The IPD information will be available 1-1-2027 for six months.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No