the effects of progressive muscular relaxation and breathing control technique on blood pressure during pregnancy

abstract background: hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are the main cause of maternal and fetal mortality; however, they have no definite effective treatment. the researchers aimed to study the effects of progressive muscular relaxation and breathing control technique on blood pressure (bp) during pregnancy. materials and methods: this three‑group clinical trial was conducted in mashhad health centers and governmental hospitals. sixty pregnant (after 20 weeks of gestational age) women with systolic bp ≥ 135 mmhg or diastolic bp ≥ 85 mmhg were assigned to three groups. progressive muscular relaxation and breathing control exercises were administered to the two experimental groups once a week in person and in the rest of the days by instructions given on a cd for 4 weeks. bp was checked before and after the interventions. bp was measured before and after 15 min subjects’ waiting without any especial intervention in the control group. results: after 4 weeks of intervention, the systolic (by a mean of 131.3 to 117.2, p = 0.001 and by a mean of 131.05 to 120.5, p = 0.004, respectively) and diastolic (by a mean of 79.2 to 72.3, p = 0.001 and by a mean of 80.1 to 76.5, p = 0.047, respectively) bps were significantly decreased in progressive muscular relaxation and breathing control groups, but they were not statistically significant in the control group. conclusions: the interventions were effective on decreasing systolic and diastolic bp to normal range after 4 weeks in both the groups. the effects of both the interventions were more obvious on systolic bp compared to diastolic bp.