APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE FOR TRAINING SUBJECTS TO CONTROL THEIR BLOOD-PRESSURE

Apparatus and procedures for treating the blood pressure response as a free operant were devised. The system described developed out of an effort to combine some features of the Harvard and Rockefeller methods into a compact and inexpensive unit that could be transported easily and eventually adapted for home use. Application of the device requires fitting the subject with a standard cuff on each arm and inflating first one and then the other for intervals of 100 s. The systolic or diastolic blood pressure threshold is tracked by readjusting cuff pressure every 3-4 heartbeats in order to hold the intensity of the Korotkoff sounds constant. A record of blood pressure is obtained by transducing and tracing moment-to-moment changes in cuff pressure on a strip chart recorder. Scores provided by this method and those obtained with the classical Riva-Rocci procedure were found to be highly correlated.