A Behavioural Approach to Antihypertensive Therapy Relaxation vs Feedback Training in a Controlled Study

Abstract

<p>A combination of deep muscle relaxation with voluntary control procedures has earlier been shown to benefit labile hypertensives. This study reports on 16 male labile hypertensives, divided intσ four equal and matched groups, and treated weekly for nine weeks. To assess the relative importance of the procedures, one groups received the combined treatment, one the relaxation alone, one the voluntary control procedure alone, and one group simply had repeated blood pressure measurements throughout each session. All subjects had a test session during the tenth week.<br /><br />Results demonstrated clearly a beneficial effect for deep muscle relaxation. Although there was some suggestive evidence for the superiority of the combined approach, the voluntary control technique showed no significant relationship to improvement. Repeated measures were associated with only transient improvement which disappeared well before the tenth week.</p>