Effects of Uninterrupted and Interrupted Sitting on Central Blood Pressure in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial
- 1University of Southampton
Abstract
BACKGROUNDSedentary behaviour independently contributes to cardiovascular disease risk. In healthy adults, prolonged uninterrupted sitting acutely elevates blood pressure, whereas light-activity breaks attenuate this response. Whether such strategies confer similar benefits in high-risk populations, such as chronic stroke survivors, remains unanswered.
OBJECTIVESTo determine whether non-ambulatory, seated heel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes would attenuate central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) during 3 hours of prolonged sitting in individuals with chronic stroke. We hypothesized that the experimental (heel-raise interruption) condition (EXP) would significantly mitigate the cSBPresponse relative to uninterrupted sitting (CON).
METHODSUsing a randomized crossover design, 15 chronic stroke patients (69.3 {+/-} 10.8 y; 10 male) completed two 3-hour conditions: CON and EXP (10 seated bi-lateral heel raises at 1 rep{middle dot}s-{superscript 1} every 10 minutes). Central and peripheral blood pressures were assessed pre- and post-each condition using the SphygmoCor XCEL. Condition x Time interactions were tested using repeated-measures ANOVA.
RESULTSThe primary hypothesis was confirmed: a significant Condition x Time interaction was detected for cSBP (p < 0.05; p{superscript 2} = 0.28), with EXP eliciting a smaller increase than CON (5.6 mmHg [-6.4, 17.6] vs. 9.6 mmHg [-2.4, 21.6]).
CONCLUSIONSHeel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes attenuate the cSBP response to prolonged sitting in chronic stroke patients and reduce cardiac workload. Frequent, non-ambulatory activity breaks represent a practical secondary prevention strategy for this population, though higher intensity or frequency may be required to fully protect vascular function.
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BibTeX
@misc{faulkner2026effects,
title = {{Effects of Uninterrupted and Interrupted Sitting on Central Blood Pressure in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial}},
author = {J. Faulkner and D. Lambrick and S. Fryer and K. Stone and S. Hannah and N. Hudson and L. Stoner and A. Mitchelmore},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.02.26362083},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.02.26362083v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Effects of Uninterrupted and Interrupted Sitting on Central Blood Pressure in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Randomized Crossover Trial
AU - J. Faulkner
AU - D. Lambrick
AU - S. Fryer
AU - K. Stone
AU - S. Hannah
AU - N. Hudson
AU - L. Stoner
AU - A. Mitchelmore
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.02.26362083
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.02.26362083v1
AB - BACKGROUNDSedentary behaviour independently contributes to cardiovascular disease risk. In healthy adults, prolonged uninterrupted sitting acutely elevates blood pressure, whereas light-activity breaks attenuate this response. Whether such strategies confer similar benefits in high-risk populations, such as chronic stroke survivors, remains unanswered. OBJECTIVESTo determine whether non-ambulatory, seated heel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes would attenuate central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) during 3 hours of prolonged sitting in individuals with chronic stroke. We hypothesized that the experimental (heel-raise interruption) condition (EXP) would significantly mitigate the cSBPresponse relative to uninterrupted sitting (CON). METHODSUsing a randomized crossover design, 15 chronic stroke patients (69.3 {+/-} 10.8 y; 10 male) completed two 3-hour conditions: CON and EXP (10 seated bi-lateral heel raises at 1 rep{middle dot}s-{superscript 1} every 10 minutes). Central and peripheral blood pressures were assessed pre- and post-each condition using the SphygmoCor XCEL. Condition x Time interactions were tested using repeated-measures ANOVA. RESULTSThe primary hypothesis was confirmed: a significant Condition x Time interaction was detected for cSBP (p < 0.05; p{superscript 2} = 0.28), with EXP eliciting a smaller increase than CON (5.6 mmHg [-6.4, 17.6] vs. 9.6 mmHg [-2.4, 21.6]). CONCLUSIONSHeel-raise interruptions every 10 minutes attenuate the cSBP response to prolonged sitting in chronic stroke patients and reduce cardiac workload. Frequent, non-ambulatory activity breaks represent a practical secondary prevention strategy for this population, though higher intensity or frequency may be required to fully protect vascular function.
ER -