Energy expenditure in ball games for wheelchair users

Wheelchair sports have become popular in Germany. This is important because of the difficulty experienced by wheelchair-dependent people in maintaining cardiovascular health and fitness by daily activities. Increasing energy expenditure (EE; kcal h(-1)) is one of the most effective ways of decreasin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Spinal cord 2008-12, Vol.46 (12), p.785-790
Main Authors: ABEL, T, PLATEN, P, VEGA, S. Rojas, SCHNEIDER, S, STRÜDER, H. K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Athletic Performance - physiology
Basal Metabolism - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Breathing Exercises
Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control
Cerebrospinal fluid. Meninges. Spinal cord
Drug addictions
Energy Metabolism - physiology
Exercise - physiology
Exercise Therapy - methods
Exercise Therapy - statistics & numerical data
Exercise Tolerance - physiology
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Lactic Acid - blood
Male
Medical sciences
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Paralysis - rehabilitation
Physical Fitness - physiology
Respiratory Physiological Phenomena
Spinal Cord Injuries - rehabilitation
Sports - physiology
Toxicology
Treatment Outcome
Wheelchairs - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:Wheelchair sports have become popular in Germany. This is important because of the difficulty experienced by wheelchair-dependent people in maintaining cardiovascular health and fitness by daily activities. Increasing energy expenditure (EE; kcal h(-1)) is one of the most effective ways of decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the EE of individuals with spinal cord injury in ball games for wheelchair-dependent persons. Fourteen tennis players (WT), 10 basketball players (WB) and 12 rugby players (WR) completed a basal metabolism evaluation and a training test to measure respiratory parameters. In the basal metabolism test EE in WT was 66.8+/-12.8 kcal h(-1), in WB 62.7+/-15.0 kcal h(-1) and in WR 63.5+/-12.9 kcal h(-1). During training EE in WT was 325.8+/-73.0 kcal h(-1), in WB 374.8+/-127.1 kcal h(-1) and in WR 248.5+/-69.4 kcal h(-1). The average EE of the whole group was: 316.4+/-89.6 kcal h(-1) with a corresponding heart rate of 118.5+/-23.1 b.p.m. and a lactate concentration of 2.09+/-0.7 mmol l(-1). Statistical analysis showed significantly lower values of EE, heart rate and oxygen uptake for the WR group in comparison to the other groups. The results indicate that the additional leisure time EE of persons participating in WB and WT is sufficient to maintain fitness. This level of EE is comparable to the recommendations of the ACSM for able-bodied persons, and therefore might be sufficient to prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases.
ISSN:1362-4393
1476-5624
DOI:10.1038/sc.2008.54