Physical Demands of Walking Football in Patients With Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Diseases.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the exercise intensity of walking football (WF) with walking (WA) and to describe specific movement characteristics of WF.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Sports facilities Saarland University, Germany.

PATIENTS: Eighteen patients with cardiovascular risk factors CVRFs and diseases (13 men and 5 women, age: 69 ± 10 years).

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Patients completed a WF match and WA session of 2 x 10 min each. Video analysis was used to characterize movements during WF.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rate of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg Scale 6-20), % maximum heart rate (HR max ), musculoskeletal pain on a visual analog scale (VAS, 1-100 mm) before and up to 72 hours after exercise, and movement patterns during WF.

RESULTS

The mean RPE during WF (12.1 ± 2.7) and WA (11.9 ± 3.0) did not differ ( P = 0.63). The mean HR during WF (79 ± 12% of HR max ) was higher than during WA (71% ± 11%; P < 0.01). The HR variability coefficient of variation during WF (10.3% ± 5.8%) and WA (7.1 ± 5.5%) did not differ ( P = 0.13). There was no influence of exercise mode (WF vs WA) on musculoskeletal pain perception ( P = 0.96 for interaction). Injury-inciting activities such as lunges (median: 0.5 [interquartile range (IQR) 0-1.3]) and goal kicks (median: 4 [IQR: 1.8-5.3]) occurred rarely during WF.

CONCLUSIONS

Walking football might represent an alternative to WA for health prevention programs in patients with CVRF and diseases as it is characterized by a manageable cardiocirculatory strain, moderate RPE, low pain induction, and a low number of injury-inciting activities.