An exciting new article about isometric handgrip exercise and lowering blood pressure was released this month ahead of its scheduled printing in the journal Hypertension. The title of the article is Isometric handgrip exercise and resting blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and was written by two prestigious researchers, Dr. George A. Kelley and Kristi S. Kelley.

The researchers analyzed three randomized controlled studies about isometric handgrip therapy (the foundation for Zona Plus therapy) and resting blood pressure. The analysis revealed an average drop of approximately 10% in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure after at least 4 weeks of isometric handgrip exercise.

This is the first article to make bold statements about the long term health implications of isometric handgrip exercise. For instance they wrote,

“Given the reduction in resting SBP observed in the current study, it would appear plausible to suggest that a reduction in the risk of mortality from coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-causes would be more than twice that observed from a reduction of 5mmHg.”

(Note that a reduction of 5mmHg systolic has been associated with decreased risk of mortality of 9% from coronary artery disease, 14% from stroke and 7% from all-causes)

The authors also mentioned that the decreased in SBP and DBP they observed the isometric handgrip studies were at least 3 times greater than those reported in another meta-analysis investigating aerobic exercise.

In the end the authors finished with,

“In conclusion, the results of this aggregate data meta-analysis suggest that IHG [isometric handgrip] exercise is efficacious for reducing resting SBP and DBP. However, the generalizability of these findings is limited given the small number of studies included. “

For more information, visit http://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/publishahead/Isometric_handgrip_exercise_and_resting_blood.99719.aspx.