Evaluation of Gender Variation In Cardiovascular Response To Isometric Exercise In Normal Adolescents

Isometric exercise remains an important modality in patient’s rehabilitation and also employed in advanced strength and endurance training programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if the cardiovascular responses to upper limb isometric exercises differ between healthy normotensive male and female students. The study was performed on randomly selected healthy male and female subjects of age 17-19 years (30 male and 30 female). Their anthropometric variables namely height, weight and body mass index were recorded. Heart rate and blood pressure were recorded at rest and after 30 seconds of isometric exercise. Post-exercise cardiovascular parameters were significantly greater (p<0.05) than baseline values without gender bias. The males had a higher pre-exercise HR, SBP than the females but no significant difference in DBP and MAP. However, the post-exercise SBP and MAP were significantly greater (p<0.05) in males than females and no significant difference in rise in the HR and DBP between them. There was positive correlation between BMI and DBP in females and males showed positive correlation between DBP, MAP and BMI. Paired t-test and Unpaired t-test were used for statistical analysis. The study concludes that cardiovascular and hemodynamic responses to isometric handgrip exercise differ by gender.