Effect of one leg crossed over the other at the knee on blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

This article reports on a replication of Foster-Fitzpatrick, Ortiz Sibilano, Marcantonio, and Braun's (1999) study of the effect of crossed legs on blood pressure (BP). The purpose of the study was to demonstrate that a standard procedure/protocol for BP measurement is needed to accurately assess BP readings and prevent false hypertensive readings. This was a quasi-experimental, single center, parallel group, randomized study involving only one regularly scheduled clinic visit. It involved 90 subjects. No medications or treatments were manipulated. All subjects had physician-diagnosed hypertension for at least 1 year and were taking at least one BP medication. A one-way ANOVA and t-test were used for analysis. Contrary to Foster-Fitzpatrick et al., this study showed no statistically significant difference in BP readings of subjects with one leg crossed over the other versus both feet flat on the floor. Further study is suggested.