Effects Of A 10-Week Qigong Exercise Programme on Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure of Male Hypertensive Members of Recreation Clubs in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 10-week qigong exercise programme on resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure of male hypertensive members of Recreation Clubs in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State. The study was guided by two research questions and two corresponding null hypotheses. The study adopted randomized pretest – posttest control group design. In this multivariable trials; 144 male hypertensive members constituted the population of the study, and 40 volunteers were used as the sample size of the study. The instrument used for the study was Sphygmomanometer model DM-500 for blood pressure. The instrument is a standardized health instrument. Five qigong exercises; Pulling toes with both hands, Turning head to look over the shoulder, Shooting arrow on horseback, Respiration in bending position and Breathing in side-lunge position while raising arm were administered in accordance with exercise training phases. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. After the successful 10-week qigong exercise programme on male hypertensive, the findings of this study revealed that the qigong exercise programme reduced resting systolic blood pressure and resting diastolic blood pressure of male hypertensive members of Recreation Clubs from 138.95 to 114.21 with a mean difference of 24.74 mmHg and 97.89 to 84.74 with a mean difference of 13.15 mmHg respectively. The hypotheses that there are no significant effect of a 10-week qigong exercise programme on the resting systolic blood pressure and resting diastolic blood pressure of male hypertensive members of Recreation Clubs in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State were rejected (p < 0.05). Based on the findings, the researcher made some vital recommendations among others that: qigong exercise, being an active and acceptable form of physical activity for hypertensive patients, should be incorporated into strategies for the improvement of cardio-respiratory fitness and reduction of possible development of any form of/or more cardiovascular diseases and suggested areas for further research.