Effects of a long‐term exercise program on motor performance in children and adolescents with CF

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine motor performance and trainability in youths with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods Twenty‐two children and adolescents (11 f/11 m), age range 6–17 years (11.3 ± 3.3 years), mean FEV1 91.0 ± 21.7% pred.finished the partially monitored 12‐months exercise program. Patients performed the Deutsche Motorik Test (DMT) to assess flexibility, balance, strength, power and totalmotor performance. An incremental ergometer cycle test was used to assess maximal exercise capacity (Wpeak). All tests were performed before (T1), after 6 months of monitored exercise training (T3) and another 6 months without monitoring (T4). Results Motor Competence in total and test‐items of the DMT (except foreward bend) improved to T3 (p < .05). No further improvement could be observed after the end of the monitoring (T3). However, the values remained stable at the improved level (T4). Girls scored lower in test items depending on strength/power but scored higher in balancing compared to boys (p > .05). Wpeak and FEV1 were not influenced by the training program. From T3 to T4 a slight decrease was observed (p ≤ .05). Conclusions The findings demonstrate benefits of an individualizedmonitored long‐term exercise intervention on motor performance in CF with improvements of test‐tasks to predicted normal. Monitoringseems to be a facilitator in maintaining motivation toward physical activity as no further increase in motor performance was observed after stopping supervision. The results suggest that an individually tailored monitoredregular exercise program should include all aspects of physical fitness with a variety of movement experiences.

Health-Related and Motor Performance-Related Fitness and Physical Activity Among Youth With Cystic Fibrosis

“…The major findings of the present study were that the values of parameters of health-related fitness and motor performance-related fitness of children and adolescents with CF were lower than those of healthy controls of the same age. The present results confirm and extend the findings of previous studies that reported lower levels of health-related and motor performance-related fitness in youth with CF (Arikan et al., 2015; Corten & Morrow, 2020; Gruber et al., 2008, 2020). Additionally, this study highlighted that aspects of motor performance-related and health-related fitness linearly increased from middle to late childhood among youth with CF, whereas only minor changes or even a decline were observed among older adolescents.…”

“…The exercise programs consisted of different sports activities with a great variety of demanding tasks. At the end of the exercise program, significant improvements in motor performance parameters were observed (Gruber et al., 2008, 2020). The authors concluded that activities highly demanding of motor skills had beneficial effects on neuromotor fitness, leading to corresponding adaptations in children and adolescents with CF (Stodden et al., 2008).…”

Trainability of Health-Related and Motor Performance Fitness in Adults with Cystic Fibrosis within a 12-Month Partially Supervised Exercise Program

“…As seen in children with CF [20], our data suggest that there is trainability of adults with CF regarding their physical fitness. Due to a lack of studies, the importance of those parameters in context to CF remains unclear.…”

“…However, little is known about the effects of an exercise program regarding different aspects of motor performance fitness. In this respect, children and adolescents show trainability with regard to motor performance fitness as recently published by our group [20].…”

“…Due to a lack of studies, the importance of those parameters in context to CF remains unclear. Studies in children and adolescents with and without CF show a good correlation between items of motor performance fitness and PA. Children with higher levels of motor performance present with a higher level of PA in adolescence and adulthood [29][30][31]. Transferred to adult patients with CF, it can be speculated that higher levels of motor performance fitness and therefore PA may have a positive impact on the course of the disease, especially concerning to HRQoL and aerobic fitness [32].…”