title: Cardiocirculatory and metabolic strain during rowing ergometry in coronary patients.
abstract: To investigate the suitability of rowing for cardiac rehabilitation, the cardiocirculatory and metabolic reactions during rowing (RE) and cycle (CE) ergometry were compared. Ten male normotensive subjects of an outpatient heart group (age 56 +/- 7 years, maximum performance on CE 2.0 +/- 0.4 W.kg-1) carried out a stepwise increasing test on an isokinetic rowing ergometer and a CE (increasing by 25 W every 3 min). In a 1-min break after each step, heart rate and blood pressure, blood concentrations of lactate, and the free catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline were measured. Four patients showed signs of myocardial ischemia occurring almost one step earlier on RE than on CE. In RE, the endurance and maximum performance were about 20 W lower than on CE. At similar workloads, heart rate, blood pressure, and concentrations of lactate and catecholamines measured significantly higher on RE than on CE. At workloads above the individual anaerobic threshold, the increase in adrenaline and noradrenaline was significantly higher on RE than on CE. The results can be explained by the lower work efficiency, the higher isometric demands with increased cardiac pressure load, and the higher mental stress in RE. Rowing is only suitable in cardiac rehabilitation when well-defined prerequisites have been considered.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sports and Performance Medicine, University of Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urhausen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spieldenner
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kindermann
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005080:Exercise Test; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines