UNC Charlotte faculty or staff members and graduate students who are between the ages of 21 and 65 and have high blood pressure may be eligible to participate in a study on the effects of isometric exercise training.
Jan Warren-Findlow, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and Reuben Howden, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology, are performing this study; isometric exercise is a form of strengthening exercise, in this case squeezing a handgrip device.
Participants will be in one of three groups: a group that performs the handgrip exercise three days per week at the Laboratory of Systems Physiology at UNC Charlotte; a group that performs the handgrip exercise three days per week at home using a video; or the delayed treatment group that will not perform these exercises until later.
The exercise portion of the study will last 12 weeks, followed by a six-week follow up period. At the end of the 12 weeks, control group members will have the option of participating in either exercise program.
Researchers will measure participants’ blood pressure and ask some health and lifestyle questions using a brief survey at four time periods during the study. Whichever group individuals are assigned, they will be eligible to win a $100 gift card per group at each data collection point (baseline, six weeks, 12 weeks and 18 weeks).
Prospective participants should email uncc.IET@gmail.com. The UNC Charlotte Office of Protection
for Human Subjects (Protocol #15-04-13) approved this study on May 16, 2017, for a period of one year.