| dc.description.abstract | Physical activity has been used at an increasing rate with worldwide
recognition as a practical method of rehabilitation for
persons who have survived an episode of myocardial infarction.
Research was and is still conducted in the field of the coronary
risk factors with some significant and contradictory results.
Many questions are partially unanswered, especially concerning
the presence and influence of hormones after an incident
of myocardial infarction, as well as its interrelationship
with other factors also present. It is furthermore of
great importance to evaluate the influence of programmed training
on the hormonal response of insulin, growth hormone and
cortisol, which are found present after an incident of myocardial
infarction. Research was conducted to evaluate the influence
of a training program on several hemodynamic and hormonal
parameters of persons who had suffered and survived a heart
attack.
A group of 13 men with a mean age of 47,6 years participated
in an eight month, individually prescribed physical rehabilitation
program on bicycle ergometers. All of them had had one
or two incidents of uncompleted myocardial infarctions within
two years prior to the start of the research project. Before
the start of the project they were all examined by a specialist
physician and only on his approval were they allowed to participate in the research program.
Each individual had to complete a multistage physical work capacity
test of standardized intensities, where after a training
program was constituted according to the protocol of Lange Andersen
(1971).
Several cardiovascular and biochemical parameters were t es ted
before and after the physical conditioning program. The tests
included heart rate, blood pressure, myocardial function via
the double product, glucose tolerance and the serum values of
insulin, growth hormone and cortisol during a glucose tolerance
test.
Training had a significant influence on all the cardiovascular
parameters, especially in the case of the myocardial function.
The same effect occurred in the glucose tolerance test. Of significant
importance was the shifting of the maximal turning
point of the blood-glucose concentration from 60 minutes to 30
minutes. A normalising effect was also observed in the glucose
tolerance due to the influence of training.
Insulin and growth hormone showed the same normalising effect
which was produced by physical training. A statistically significant
difference was observed between the pre- and post training
values of certain levels of the mentioned hormones during
the glucose tolerance test.
No statistically verified difference occurred in the cortisol
concentration, although a normalising effect caused by the
physical training program was observed in some cases.
It may be concluded that physical activity as mentioned in this
study has a therapeutical and beneficiary effect on the physiological
and biochemical consequences of the post coronary patients. | en_US |
