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Sex Effects on Blood Pressure With Handgrip Training

NCT06215014 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 29

Last updated 2026-05-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this intervention is to compare the blood pressure response of young females and males to a single bout of static handgrip exercise before and after static handgrip training (4 weeks).

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

* Are the lowering blood pressure effects of static handgrip exercise training different between young females and males?
* Which factors explain the lowering blood pressure effects of static handgrip training and possible differences between sexes? Is it an improved blood vessel dilation? Is it a reduced stiffening of blood vessels? Is it a reduced fight or flight response resulting in a lower heart rate and blood pumped by the heart into the vessels? All the above?
* Which factors regulate blood pressure response during and immediately after a single bout of static handgrip exercise?

All participants will be asked to:

* Visit the laboratory to perform static handgrip exercise - first visit;
* Participants will be randomized (like flipping a coin) to static handgrip exercise training or to a non-exercising phase, with each phase lasting four weeks. Participants will also complete the other condition (handgrip or no handgrip) after completing the first four-week condition
* Return to the laboratory after the completion of both static handgrip training and no training to perform the static handgrip exercise of the first visit.

The investigators will compare participants' blood pressure response to a single bout static of handgrip exercise after training to their own blood pressure response to the same bout of exercise after the non-training period.

Conditions

  • Blood Pressure

Interventions

OTHER

Isometric handgrip training

Participants will train three days per week at home for 1 month using a reliable and validated digital handgrip dynamometer (DynX, MD System, Inc., Westerville, USA) in a seated position. The isometric handgrip training protocol will consist of four sets (2 for each hand) of two-min sustained contractions starting at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) interspersed by 1-min resting periods (a total of 12-min). All training sessions will be remotely supervised via Zoom or phone call by a research team member to ensure compliance with the exercise prescription. Before each training session, MVCs will be re-assessed over three repetitions, each separated by 30-s, to ensure an accurate exercise prescription. The highest value will be used to determine the target intensity of the session

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Massachusetts, Boston

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Tracy Baynard, PhD · University of Massachusetts, Boston

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
40 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-03-01
Primary Completion
2025-06-18
Completion
2025-06-18

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06215014 on ClinicalTrials.gov