Wall Sits and Planks are Best for Lowering Blood Pressure

Planks are Best for Lowering Blood Pressure Researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent, have concluded that isometric exercises like planks are best for lowering blood pressure. They performed a meta-analysis of 270 randomised controlled trials, involving nearly 16 000 people, and compared the effects of various forms of exercise on blood pressure.

In order of increasing effectiveness for lowering blood pressure, the figures in mmHg by which each exercise lowered systolic/ diastolic blood pressure were:

high intensity interval training – 4.1 / 2.5
aerobic exercise eg running, cycling – 4.5 / 2.5
dynamic resistance training eg push-ups – 4.5 / 3.0
combined training – 6.0 / 2.5
isometric training eg planks, wall sits – 8.2 / 4.0

The researchers conclude that these results should inform new guidelines for exercise in relation to hypertension.

(Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, accessed online 3 August 2023.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.