Effects And Mechanism Of Isometric Exercise Training In Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Objective To study the effect and mechanism of isometric exercise (IE) training in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).Methodology Forty CAD patients were equally divided into IE group (n=20) and dynamic exercise group (DE, n=20). Patients in the IE group performed isometric exercises and aerobic exercises, five sessions of per week for total 6 weeks. Those in DE group performed aerobic training only. Body weight (BW), abodominal and gluteal circumferences, Exercise ECG testing, 2-dimension echocardiography, fasting blood sugar (FBS), TG, Chol, HDL, LDL, Leu-Enkephalin (L-EK), p-Endorphin (β-END) and Dynphin A (DYN) in plasma before and after training were measured.Results 1. The physical fitness in both groups improved significantly after the exercises. The beneficial changes in abdominal circumference, TG, muscle strength and maximal exercise duration were . more significant in IE group than DE group. 2. Attenuation of cardiovascular response at fixed exercise load was more remarkable in IE group than DE group. 3. L-EK and P-END were increased significantly in IE group, but not in DE group.Conclusion IE is safe and can effectively increase the maximal endurance and attenuate the cardiovascular response to given exercise load in CAD patients, which is partially attributed to the elevation of EOPs release.