Efficacy of simple and very brief handgrip and isometric exercises for reducing withdrawal symptoms in cigarette smokers : A pilot randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Withdrawal symptoms lead to smoking relapse and reduce the intention to quit. The present pilot RCT examined the effect of simple and very brief handgrip and isometric exercises on reducing withdrawal symptoms, measured by the strength of tobacco craving, Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-Brief (QSU-B), Mood and Physical Symptoms Scale (MPSS), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).

Methods: In this 2-arm, open-labeled pilot RCT, 30 current smokers who had abstained from tobacco for at least 9 hours were randomly assigned (allocation ratio 1:1) to either the intervention group that watched a 5-minute video and did 5-minute handgrip and isometric exercises (pulling and pushing) or control group that watched 10-minute healthy-diet videos. Measurements were taken before, immediately after, and 10 minutes post-intervention. Outcomes were selfreported strength of tobacco craving, QSU-B, MPSS, and PANAS scores. The effect size for group-by-time interaction was assessed using Cohen’s f2 (small=0.02, medium=0.15, large=0.35).

Results: Group-by-time interactions showed that the intervention group showed larger reductions than the control group in the strength of tobacco craving (Cohen’s f2=0.54, 95% CI: 0.52–0.57), QSU-B (Cohen’s f2=0.77; 95% CI: 0.74–0.80), and MPSS (Cohen’s f2=0.51; 95% CI: 0.46–0.56) over the three measurement points.

Conclusions: This RCT showed that simple and brief handgrip and isometric exercises could immediately reduce withdrawal symptoms and up to 10 minutes.