Health Benefits

What you will see here is that poor isometric muscle strength is a associated with many of today's most unwanted health conditions.  You will also see that isometric strength training is the most effective form of exercise for combating hypertension. We would be happy to help you live a pain-free, high-performing, active lifestyle. If you have any questions related to the below conclusions we would be happy to speak with you. 
This next bit is mind blowing. 
"Isometric grip strength was associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality and incidence of and mortality from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all cancer and sub-types of cancer."
BMJ 2018;361:k1651
Heart Health
  1. This study suggests that greater isometric muscle strength in youth is associated with lower levels of cardiovascular risk factors in young adulthood independent of fitness, adiposity and other confounding factors.
  2. Isometric resistance training lowers Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, and mean arterial pressure. The magnitude of effect is larger than that previously reported in dynamic aerobic or resistance training. Our data suggest that this form of training has the potential to produce significant and clinically meaningful blood pressure reductions and could serve as an adjunctive exercise modality.
  3. A high level of isometric quadriceps strength was strongly associated with a lower risk of both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with Coronary Artery Disease. Evaluation of Quadriceps Isometric Strength offered incremental prognostic information beyond pre-existing risk factors.
  4. Isometric Resistance Training (IRT) lowers Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure and Mean Arterial Pressure. The magnitude of effect may be larger in hypertensive males aged > 45 years, using unilateral arm IRT for > 8 weeks. Our data suggest that this form of training has the potential to produce significant and clinically meaningful BP reductions and could serve as an adjunct exercise modality.
  5. Although the mechanisms responsible for these adaptations remain to be fully clarified, improvements in conduit and resistance vessel endothelium-dependent dilation, oxidative stress, and autonomic regulation of heart rate and Blood Pressure (BP) have been reported. The clinical significance of isometric exercise training, as a time-efficient and effective training modality to reduce BP, warrants further study.
  6. The results of this study showed that training-induced reductions in resting blood pressure and concomitant vascular adaptations are dependent on isometric training intensity. The vascular adaptations comprised of increased resting femoral artery diameter, blood flow, blood velocity, and vascular conductance.

Neurological Health

  1. Maximal upper extremity voluntary (isometric) muscle force was reduced in late adolescence in men diagnosed with Parkinson Disease (PD) 30 years later. The findings suggest the presence of subclinical motor deficits 3 decades before the clinical onset of PD.
  2. Isometric Exercise Training may also play an effective role in the management of vascular risk factors at the Mild cognitive impairment stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may prove to be a significant strategy in the prevention, attenuation or delay of progression to AD. 
  3. Hip flexor-extensor-abductor-adductor, knee flexor- extensor, and ankle dorsal flexor isometric muscle strength and duration of one-leg standing balance decreases in ambulatory MS patients. All these lower extremity muscles strength and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores are related with imbalance. Hip and knee region muscle weakness is related with EDSS scores in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Therefore strengthening of these lower extremity muscles may help to improve balance and reduce disability level in this population.  
  4. This study provides the first evidence for isometric strength training-related changes in white matter and putamen in the healthy adult brain.

Muscle and Tendon Pain 

  1. The current study has shown that women with chronic neck pain have lower neck muscle strength in extension than the healthy female group. Peak isometric neck strength values were statistically significantly reduced in the women with chronic neck pain compared with female healthy controls.
  2. Gluteus medius (isometric) weakness and gluteal muscle tenderness are common symptoms in people with chronic non-specific Low Back Pain.
  3. Isometric strength measurement is a reliable and feasible way to estimate the possible benefit of specific strengthening programs. Patients with chronic neck pain showed (isometric) strength deficits in all measured regions.
  4. Chronic pain is significantly related to a reduction of muscle strength of 20–30% in the painful limb. A significant relation between pain intensity and reduced isometric muscle strength was found for most muscle groups.
  5. A single resistance training bout of isometric contractions reduced tendon pain immediately for at least 45 min postintervention and increased Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction (by 18.7%). 
  6. This study shows a relationship between the levels of neck pain intensity and the function of the deep cervical flexor muscles in women with persistent neck pain. Higher levels of pain were associated with greater delays in the activation of the deep cervical flexors during rapid flexion of the shoulder and lower amplitude of activation during isometric craniocervical flexion contractions.
  7. The results of this study demonstrate that brief submaximal isometric exercise can improve cold pressor pain tolerance. This study provided support for the efficacy of isometric exercise as an analgesic agent, a relatively understudied exercise modality in the field of EIH.

 

Heart Health Citations 

  1. Grøntved, Anders, et al. "Muscle strength in youth and cardiovascular risk in young adulthood (the European Youth Heart Study)." Br J Sports Med(2013): bjsports-2012.
  2. Carlson, Debra J., et al. "Isometric exercise training for blood pressure management: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Vol. 89. No. 3. Elsevier, 2014.
  3. Kamiya, Kentaro, et al. "Quadriceps strength as a predictor of mortality in coronary artery disease." The American journal of medicine 128.11 (2015): 1212-1219.
  4. Inder, Jodie D., et al. "Isometric exercise training for blood pressure management: a systematic review and meta-analysis to optimize benefit."Hypertension Research 39.2 (2016): 88-94.
  5. Millar, Philip J., et al. "Evidence for the role of isometric exercise training in reducing blood pressure: potential mechanisms and future directions." Sports Medicine 44.3 (2014): 345-356.
  6. Baross, Anthony W., Jonathan D. Wiles, and Ian L. Swaine. "Effects of the intensity of leg isometric training on the vasculature of trained and untrained limbs and resting blood pressure in middle-aged men." International journal of vascular medicine 2012 (2012)

Neurological Citations 

  1. Gustafsson, Helena, et al. "Low muscle strength in late adolescence and Parkinson disease later in life." Neurology 84.18 (2015): 1862-1869.
  2. Hess, Nicole CL, and Neil A. Smart. "Isometric Exercise Training for Managing Vascular Risk Factors in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease." Frontiers in aging neuroscience 9 (2017).
  3. Citaker, Seyit et al. Relationship between lower extremity isometric muscle strength and standing balance in patients with multiple sclerosis, NeuroRehabilitation 33 (2013) 293–298 
  4. Palmer, Helen Suzanne, et al. "Structural brain changes after 4 wk of unilateral strength training of the lower limb." Journal of Applied Physiology 115.2 (2013): 167-175.

Muscle and Tendon Pain

Citations 

  1. Cagnie, Barbara, et al. "Differences in isometric neck muscle strength between healthy controls and women with chronic neck pain: the use of a reliable measurement." Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation 88.11 (2007): 1441-1445.
  2. Cooper, Nicholas A., et al. "Prevalence of gluteus medius weakness in people with chronic low back pain compared to healthy controls." European Spine Journal 25.4 (2016): 1258-1265.
  3. Scheuer, Raphael, and Martin Friedrich. "Reliability of isometric strength measurements in trunk and neck region: patients with chronic neck pain compared with pain-free persons." Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation 91.12 (2010): 1878-1883.
  4. Van Wilgen, C. P., et al. "Muscle strength in patients with chronic pain."Clinical rehabilitation 17.8 (2003): 885-889.
  5. Rio, Ebonie, et al. "Isometric exercise induces analgesia and reduces inhibition in patellar tendinopathy." Br J Sports Med (2015): bjsports-2014.
  6. Falla, Deborah, et al. "Association between intensity of pain and impairment in onset and activation of the deep cervical flexors in patients with persistent neck pain." The Clinical journal of pain 27.4 (2011): 309-314.
  7. Foxen-Craft, Emily, and Lynnda M. Dahlquist. "Brief submaximal isometric exercise improves cold pressor pain tolerance." Journal of Behavioral Medicine (2017): 1-12