Search

Background: Stroke results in varying levels of physical disabilities that may adversely impact balance with increased tendency to falls. This may intensify with cognitive impairments (CI), and impede functional recovery. Therefore, task-specific balance training (TSBT), which presents versatile task-specific training options that matches varied individual needs, was explored as a beneficial rehabilitation regime for stroke survivors with and without CI. It was hypothesized that there will be no significant difference in the balance control measures in stroke survivors with and without CI after a 12-month TSBT., Objective: To determine if TSBT will have comparable beneficial effects on the balance control status of sub-acute ischemic stroke survivors with CI and without CI., Methods: One hundred of 143 available sub-acute first ever ischemic stroke survivors were recruited using convenience sampling technique in a quasi-experimental study. They were later assigned into the cognitive impaired group (CIG) and non-cognitive impaired group (NCIG), respectively, based on the baseline presence or absence of CI, after screening with the mini-mental examination (MMSE) tool. With the help of four trained research assistants, TSBT was applied to each group, thrice times a week, 60 mins per session, for 12 months. Their balance was measured as Bergs Balance scores (BBS) at baseline, 4th, 8th, and 12th month intervals. Data were analyzed statistically using Kruskal Wallis test, and repeated measure ANOVA, at p < 0.05., Results: There was significant improvement across time points in the balance control of CIG with large effect size of 0.69 after 12 months of TSBT. There was also significant improvement across time points in the balance control of NCIG with large effect size of 0.544 after 12 months of TSBT. There was no significant difference between the improvement in CIG and NCIG after 8th and 12th months of TSBT., Conclusions: Within the groups, a 12-month TSBT intervention significantly improved balance control, respectively, but with broader effects in the CIG than NCIG. Importantly, though between-group comparison at baseline revealed significantly impaired balance control in the CIG than NCIG, these differences were not significant at the 8th month and non-existent at the 12th month of TSBT intervention. These results underscore the robustness of TSBT to evenly address specific balance deficits of stroke survivors with and without CI within a long-term rehabilitation plan as was hypothesized.

Purpose: Hypertension is associated with dyslipidemia. Thiazides adversely affect serum lipid levels in hypertensives. There is currently a dearth of information on benefits of aerobic exercise training on serum lipid levels in individuals on thiazides and this study aimed at bridging this gap in knowledge., Methods: This randomized-controlled trial involved 120 newly-diagnosed adults with essential hypertension (≥65 years). They were treated with 50 mg of hydrochlorothiazide + 5 mg of hydrochloride amiloride and 5 or 10 mg of amlodipine for 4-6 weeks before they were randomly assigned into exercise group (EG) and control croup (CG). Only EG underwent 12-week aerobic dance training at 50-70 % of heart rate reserve three times per week. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and total cholesterol were measured and recorded at baseline and post-study., Results: Eighty-eight (45 in EG and 43 in CG) of 120 participants randomly assigned to groups completed the study. Systolic (p = 0.370) and diastolic (p = 0.771) blood pressures (BP) were similar between the two groups at baseline. Systolic (p < 0.001) and diastolic (p < 0.001) BPs reduced significantly in exercise and control groups. LDL-C (from 120.10 ± 33.41 to 110.50 ± 31.68 mg/dl; p = 0.037) and triglyceride (from 117.49 ± 45.12 to 100.63 ± 35.42 mg/dl; p = 0.002) decreased in EG post-study but no significant between-group differences were observed., Conclusions: Although, LDL-C and triglyceride are reduced after aerobic dance training, they were not any more than without it. Aerobic dance training has favorable effects on LDL-C, triglyceride, and systolic and diastolic BP in individuals with hypertension on a thiazide.

Achieving adequate blood pressure (BP) control with antihypertensive medication remains an elusive goal for many patients. The advances in knowledge of hypertension and the increasingly improved upon therapeutic strategies seem not to guarantee even sustainable control rates at the population level. In addition, patients who either discontinue their medications or are non-adherent to drug therapy run the risk of developing uncontrolled BP. Number of daily tablets more than two and number of daily drug administration at least three have been associated with poor adherence with drug therapy. However, BP control seems to go beyond adherence with drug therapy as there are other associated factors. Studies have demonstrated beneficial effect of aerobic exercise in the prevention and management of hypertension. It appears, however, that the majority of these studies failed to explore the possible additive or synergistic effect of aerobic exercise on antihypertensive drugs such that fewer drugs would be required to achieve BP control or that the BP control rate would be increased with the same number of drugs. This review presents the evidence for poor BP control in the general population, and the possible means and process of aerobic exercise complementing antihypertensive drug therapy in order to achieve higher BP control rates.

Background: The Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training (AET) on self-reported Quality of Life (QoL) in people with hypertension have been previously documented. However, data on black populations, especially from Africa, seem not to be available. This study investigated the effects of AET on QoL and exercise capacity in Nigerians on treatment for essential hypertension., Method: This randomised-controlled trial involved newly diagnosed individuals, with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension randomly assigned to antihypertensive drugs (ADs) alone (control: n = 60) and AET+ADs (exercise: n = 60) groups. The study lasted for 12 weeks. QoL was measured using the World Health Organization QoL Short Form (WHOQoL-BREF) and exercise capacity was assessed using the Rockport Fitness Walk Test pre- and post-study., Results: Physical health, psychological health, and social relationships domains of QoL improved significantly in the exercise and control groups post-intervention. The environment domain of QoL and exercise capacity improved significantly in only the exercise group. There were larger improvements in the physical health, psychological health, and environment domains of QoL, and exercise capacity in the exercise group., Conclusion: Aerobic exercise improves QoL and exercise capacity in individuals with essential hypertension., (© 2013 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being © 2013 The International Association of Applied Psychology.)

Background: Although aerobic exercise has been shown to lower blood pressure (BP) in human beings, its additive BP-reducing effect on antihypertensive drug therapy seems to have been investigated in only laboratory animals., Objectives: This study investigated the effects of aerobic dance combined with antihypertensive drugs on BP and number of antihypertensive drugs in individuals with hypertension., Methods: This open label randomised-controlled trial involved new-diagnosed male and female individuals with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension after at least four weeks of treatment. They were randomly assigned to drug therapy (Normoretic: Hydrochlorothiazide + amiloride hydrochloride, and Amlodipine) (control: n=33) and aerobic dance combined with drug therapy (exercise: n=30) groups. Intervention in each group lasted 12 weeks. BP was measured at baseline and during and pos-intervention. Number of antihypertensive drugs was recorded post-intervention., Results: There were significant reductions in SBP at some periods of the intervention in the exercise group (p=0.000 to 0.002) and control group (p=0.001 to 0.002), and significant difference in DBP at some periods of the intervention in exercise group (p=0.000 to 0.003) and control group (p=0.000 to 0.001). SBP (p=0.066) and DBP (p=0.100) did not differ between the two groups post-12-week intervention. The BP control rates were similar between the exercises (56.7%) and control (35.5%) groups (p=0.075). Similarly, between-group difference in the number of drugs was not significant (p=0.511)., Conclusion: This preliminary report demonstrates the tendency of aerobic dance to enhance BP control in individuals on two antihypertensive drugs without BP control.