Effects of Uninterrupted and Interrupted Sitting on Central Blood Pressure in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial
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BACKGROUND
Sedentary behaviour independently contributes to cardiovascular disease risk. In healthy adults, prolonged uninterrupted sitting acutely elevates blood pressure, whereas light-activity breaks attenuate this response. Whether such strategies confer similar benefits in high-risk populations, such as chronic stroke survivors, remains unanswered.
OBJECTIVES
To determine whether non-ambulatory, seated heel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes would attenuate central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) during 3 hours of prolonged sitting in individuals with chronic stroke. We hypothesized that the experimental (heel-raise interruption) condition (EXP) would significantly mitigate the cSBPresponse relative to uninterrupted sitting (CON).
METHODS
Using a randomized crossover design, 15 chronic stroke patients (69.3 ± 10.8 y; 10 male) completed two 3-hour conditions: CON and EXP (10 seated bi-lateral heel raises at 1 rep·s ⁻ ¹ every 10 minutes). Central and peripheral blood pressures were assessed pre- and post-each condition using the SphygmoCor XCEL. Condition × Time interactions were tested using repeated-measures ANOVA.
RESULTS
The primary hypothesis was confirmed: a significant Condition × Time interaction was detected for cSBP (p < 0.05; η p² = 0.28), with EXP eliciting a smaller increase than CON (5.6 mmHg [−6.4, 17.6] vs. 9.6 mmHg [−2.4, 21.6]).
CONCLUSIONS
Heel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes attenuate the cSBP response to prolonged sitting in chronic stroke patients and reduce cardiac workload. Frequent, non-ambulatory activity breaks represent a practical secondary prevention strategy for this population, though higher intensity or frequency may be required to fully protect vascular function.
