Does Nordic walking helps to improve exercise capacity and weight control in patients with resistant hypertension

Introduction/Background Resistant high blood hypertension (HBPr) it's defined as arterial pressure that remains above goal in spite of concurrent use of three antihypertensive agents of different classes. HTAR is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, terminal chronic renal failure and mortality, compared to patients whose hypertension responds to treatment. The currently therapeutic pillar involves multidisciplinary management with pharmacotherapy, health education, nutritional control, psychological support and therapeutic physical exercise. The aim of this study it's to use therapeutic exercise to facilitate the control of the blood pressure to improve the aerobic resistance, the meters walked and the weight control. Material and method Prospective, compared quasi-experimental study (pre- and post-intervention). Five cases, all men, with a mean age 58.2 (SD 12.21) years and BMI 32.952 (SD 3.93) kg/m 2 , who were included in a multidisciplinary study entitled: “Study of biomarkers in patients with HBP resistance to antihypertensive treatment”, performed a Nordic walking training program. The principal outcome was the six minutes walking test (6′WT). Other outcomes were the functional capacity (VO 2 peek and VO 2 AT), weight control and the compliance of the program. Results The improvement of 6′WT was 16.4 meters ( P  > 0.05). The initial VO 2 peek was 14.22 ± 2.64 mL/kg/min (64.6%), with an improved of 1.72 mL/kg/min after the program. There was no improvement in VO 2 AT. There was a significant improvement in weight and BMI after the intervention. The compliance of the program was 86.25% ± 9.27. The peak of TA at maximum effort improved in all cases after the program, improving even the hypertensive response of one of the patients. Conclusion Nordic walking is an excellent therapeutic exercise in patients with HBPr, because improves the blood pressure control, the weight control and the exercise capacity.