Effectiveness of Yoga on Hypertensive Clients-A Community Based Study

Background: High blood pressure (hypertension) is still largely ignored as a public health problem in most developing countries, and it is a major risk factor for myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, renal failure and peripheral vascular disease. Hypertension is basically a lifestyle disorder. Hence, lifestyle modification along with usual medical care should be adopted as the strategy for its prevention and management.

Objectives: To assess the pre-test level of blood pressure among hypertensive clients in the experimental and control group, to determine the effectiveness of yoga on blood pressure among hypertensive clients and to find out association of pre-test level of blood pressure and selected demographic variables.

Materials and Methods: The conceptual framework developed for the present study is based on the General System Theory. A quasi experimental design was adopted. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 60 primary hypertensive clients in the age group of 30-60 years. Data collection was done using baseline proforma, sphygmomanometer and compliance diary. Data was analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Result: It shows that in the experimental group the mean post-test level of blood pressure of the subjects is significantly lower than the mean post-test level of blood pressure. The 'F' ratio computed for the repeated measure of blood pressure level in experimental group was greater than the tabled F-ratio and calculated 't' value was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. There was significant association formed between pre-test level of blood pressure of both groups and age in years.

Conclusion: The findings of the study show that yoga was effective to reduce the blood pressure among primary hypertensive clients.