THE EFFECT OF 12-WEEK LIUZIJUE EXERCISE TRAINING ON PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION: A RANDOMIZED, CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL

Caiping Zheng^#, Xin Zhang^#, Junyao Wang^#, Yuhan Wang, Luming Qi, Nannan Liu, Lina Xia^*

College of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China

Objective: The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks Liuzijue exercise, a kind of traditional Chinese health exercise (TCHE), on middle-aged and elderly patients with hypertension.

Methods: The present program was a randomized, controlled clinical trial with Liuzijue exercise used as an intervention. 41 subjects with essential hypertension who met the inclusion criteria (mean age: 63.00±7.53 years) were randomly assigned to either the Liuzijue group (n=21) or the control group (n=20). The volunteers in the Liuzijue group were encouraged to take part in 12 weeks Liuzijue exercise training (60 minutes of Liuzijue exercise training, three times a week for a total of 12 weeks). While the subjects in the control group did not receive any exercise training and maintained their routine drug therapy regimens during the program period. 24-hour ABP, lipid profile (TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C), blood glucose, urea, and serum creatinine were measured within a week before and after the experiment.

Results: The 12 weeks Liuzijue exercise intervention led to a significant reduction of the nighttime SBP (P=0.008), pulse pressure (P=0.024), and a numerically, but had no significant effect on nighttime DBP (P=0.095). Conversely, SBP and DBP at other times did not significantly change. The nocturnal SBP fall rate improvements from pre- to post-treatment were from 1.77±0.10 to 6.75±7.77 (P=0.037) for the Liuzijue group and from 3.57±8.77 to 9.63±9.80 (P=0.031) for the control group. In addition, there was an upward trend in all of the blood pressure parameters in the control group. Liuzijue exercise did also influence lipid or glucose metabolism. The 12 weeks Liuzijue training had led to a significant increase in the concentration of HDL-C (P=0.035) and a greater reduction in LDL-C (P=0.001). The level of blood glucose in both groups had a marginally significantly increase within the normal range (P<0.05). No changes in urea were seen in the Liuzijue or the control group (P>0.05). The increase of serum creatinine was found in the Liuzijue group (P=0.023) but not in the control group. 

Conclusion: This is the first report showing that 12 weeks of Liuzijue exercise training can reduce nighttime SBP, pulse pressure, and augmented nocturnal BP fall rate in hypertensive patients. Liuzijue exercise training can improve blood lipid metabolism and reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which was an effective and safe alternative pharmacotherapy.