Life Span Exercise Among Elite Intercollegiate Student Athletes

Abstract

Background:Despite prominent public attention, data on life span health and exercise outcomes among elite, competitive athletes are sparse and do not reflect the diversity of modern athletes.Hypothesis:Life span exercise behavior differs between National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) student athletes and a nonathlete control group. Sustained exercise is associated with improved cardiopulmonary health outcomes.Study Design:Cross-sectional, descriptive epidemiology study.Level of Evidence:Level 3.Methods:A total of 496 students and alumni (age range, 17-84 year) at a large, NCAA Division I university, including student athletes and an age- and sex-matched nonathlete control group, completed anonymous, self-report health and exercise questionnaires. Age-stratified, cross-sectional analysis evaluated previous week’s total exercise volume (ExVol), self-rated exercise importance (ExImp), and compliance with American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) exercise guidelines for healthy adults. The association of ACSM guideline compliance with lifetime cardiopulmonary health outcomes was also assessed.Results:Current student athletes reported significantly greater ExVol (P < 0.001. Cohen d = 0.99, probability of clinically important difference [pCID] >99.5%), ExImp (P < 0.001, d = 1.96, pCID = 96%), and likelihood of compliance with ACSM guidelines (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI] = 30.6, 11.0-84.6) compared with nonathletes. No significant differences were found between alumni student athletes and nonathletes. Alumni student athletes demonstrated substantially lower ExVol (P < 0.001, d = –0.94, pCID >99.5%) and guideline compliance (OR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.05-0.19) compared with current student athletes, whereas nonathletes had similar exercise behavior across the life span. Among alumni, ACSM guideline compliance was associated with significant attenuation of cardiopulmonary health concerns (P = 0.02, d = –0.50, pCID = 14%) independent of intercollegiate athletic participation.Conclusion:Although current NCAA Division I student athletes demonstrated significant, clinically important differences in exercise behavior compared with nonathletes, no group differences were evident later in life. Irrespective of collegiate athletic status, healthy exercise behavior among alumni was associated with cardiopulmonary health benefits.Clinical Relevance:To realize life span health benefits, it is imperative that student athletes maintain consistent patterns of healthy exercise beyond retirement from competitive sports.

A Qualitative Exploration of Former College Student-Athletes’ Wellness

“…Specifically, participants displayed high levels in the IS-WEL's factors of the creative self, coping self, essential self, social self, and physical self. Although the present study included a small, non-representative sample, these findings contradict themajority of previous research suggesting former SAs struggle with career development, athletic identity, lack of social support, and lack of physical activity (Baillie & Danish 1992;Grove et al 1997;Kerr & Dacyshyn 2000;McKenna & Thomas 2007;Sorenson et al 2015).…”

“…All of the participants reported regular participation in physical activity. This contradicts recent research that found former SAs are equally as inactive as their non-athlete counterpart (Reifsteck, Gill, & Brooks 2013;Sorenson et al 2015). Participants also mentioned physical activity in other portions of the interview.…”

“…Participants also used physical activity to manage stress and improve and/or maintain wellness. However, the sample is likely not representative of all former SA, as research indicates former SAs are equally as inactive as their non-athlete counterparts (Reifsteck, Gill, & Brooks 2013;Sorenson et al 2015). Therefore, it is important for college sport practitioners to educate and encourage SAs to participate in physical activity postcollegiately.…”

“…For example, recent research found that former SAs are equally as inactive as their non-athlete counterparts following graduation (Sorenson, Romano, Azen, Schroeder, & Salem 2015). This is troublesome because: a) lack of physical activity has been linked to lower levels of health and wellness; b) consistent physical activity is more important for health, such as preventing cardiovascular disease, than previous athleticism; and c) loss in peak condition for former athletes can have adverse psychological and physical effects (Brill, Burkhalter, Kohl, Blair, & Goodyear 1989;Center for Disease Control [CDC] 2015;Lui et al 2008;Petibois, Cassaigne, Gin, & Deleris 2004;Weigand et al 2013).…”

Welcome to the March 2015 Issue of the IJTMB

“…Mustafa and colleagues remind us that their findings are specific to the population studied yet, because of the utility of the result, I'd like to see more research or guidelines for clinicians clarifying when and how to extrapolate such research to nonathletes-and post-sport athletes. (1) The final article, Wiest et al's research on the impact of massage in opioid-dependent patients undergoing substance-use treatment, presents a nuanced view into a complex situation where there is a lot of hope for the use of massage therapy. One result of interest is the finding that those participants seeing themselves as capable of being pain-free were more likely to experience clinically significant change in their pain levels.…”