Stair Descending vs. Stair Ascending Exercise

European University Cyprus

Status: Completed

Conditions: Aging; Heart Failure; Sarcopenia

Treatments: Other: Exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01673958

EUC-011

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of the present project is to compare the acute and chronic effect of stair descending versus stair ascending exercise on muscle damage and performance in elderly males with chronic heart failure.

Full description

Study design:

Twelve elderly males with chronic heart failure, New York Heart Association class I-II, will participate in this study. Participants will be allocated into two equally-sized groups: a stair descending group (n = 6) and a stair ascending group (n = 6). At the beginning of the study, the volunteers will perform an acute bout of stair descending or stair ascending exercise on an automatic escalator (4 sets of 3 min each, speed will be set at 45 steps∙min-1). Step height will be 20.5 mm. Before and at day 2 post exercise, physiologic measurements will be performed and blood samples will be collected. Then, participants will carry out six weeks of stair descending or ascending training consisting of three exercise sessions per week (the first two weeks the speed will be set at 45 steps∙min-1, the next two weeks at 50 steps∙min-1 and the last two weeks at 55 steps∙min-1 for both groups). Afterward, they will repeat the acute stair descending or ascending protocol, as carried out at the beginning of the study, and the same physiologic measurements will be performed and blood samples will be collected.

Measurements:

Isometric (at 90 knee flexion), concentric and eccentric peak torque at 60o∙s-1of quadriceps femoris, pain-free range of motion, delayed onset muscle soreness and creatine kinase will be measured.

Enrollment: 12 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 60 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• chronic heart failure (New York Heart Association class I-II)
• subject provides written informed consent
• personal physician of the participants provides written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• smoker
• consumed any nutritional supplement the last 3 months
• performed intense eccentric exercise the last 6 months
• non Caucasian

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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12 participants in 2 patient groups

Stair descending group

Experimental group

Description:

Stair descending exercise. Participants will carry out six weeks of stair descending training consisting of three exercise sessions per week.

Treatment:

Other: Exercise

Stair ascending group

Experimental group

Description:

Stair ascending exercise. Participants will carry out six weeks of stair descending training consisting of three exercise sessions per week.

Treatment:

Other: Exercise