Recreational football reduces high blood pressure in mature women

New research has shown that playing football could help lower blood pressure in women aged 35-50. Credit: Bo Kousgaard

21 jun 2014---The World Cup in Brazil may be attracting a global armchair audience of millions, but new research has shown that playing football could help lower blood pressure in women aged 35-50.

Women within this age group with mild high blood pressure achieve a significant reduction in blood pressure and body fat percentage through playing recreational football for 15 weeks. This is the finding of a new study conducted in a collaboration between researchers across four countries, including Professor Peter Krustrup of the University of Exeter.

The acclaimed Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports is today publishing two articles on recreational football for older women. The first article shows that 35‒50-year-old untrained women with mild high blood pressure achieve a significant improvement in physical fitness and a considerable reduction in blood pressure and body fat percentage after 3 x 1-hour football training sessions per week over 15 weeks. The second article describes the enthusiasm of women for the recreational football concept Football Fitness, which is currently being rolled out in football clubs across Denmark.

"After 15 weeks of participation in recreational football, systolic and diastolic blood pressure had fallen by 12 and 6 millimetres of mercury (mmHg) and the women had lost 2.3 kg of fat on average," says project leader Magni Mohr. "The football training produced an impressive reduction in blood pressure that was more than twice as big as with swimming performed over the same period as the football."

The researchers also found that women like playing football even if they have no previous experience of the game. Magni Mohr added: "The players faithfully attended training, with an attendance rate of over 90%. In fact, through the project period they came to enjoy playing so much that they have now started up their own football club."

"Our previous studies have shown that 16 weeks of football training reduces blood pressure in 20‒45-year-old women with normal blood pressure, but this is the first study that has looked at the effects of recreational football in women with high blood pressure," says Professor Peter Krustrup, who has been studying the health effects of recreational football and many other forms of physical activity for the past 10 years.

"As well as the impressive effects on blood pressure and body composition, we also saw a drop in cholesterol and a big improvement in physical fitness as a result of the 15 weeks of football training," says Krustrup. "In fact, the women were able to run more than twice as far in a Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test and their heart rate was 14 beats per minute lower when working at moderate intensity. Recreational football is an effective therapy for poor fitness and high blood pressure in 35‒50-year-old women."

"Traditionally, there haven't been so many older female players in English, Faroese or Danish football clubs, but the relatively new Danish initiative of Football Fitness has really caught on with women," says sports sociologist Laila Ottesen, currently engaged in an extensive study of the Football Fitness concept, which was started in 2011 by the Danish Football Association and the Danish Sports Confederation.

"At present, there are 180 football clubs across Denmark offering Football Fitness. In just a few years, the initiative has become hugely popular with women, who currently make up almost 75% of players. Football Fitness is about training in a fun, sociable and healthy way and not about playing matches against local rivals," says Ottesen.

"Matches are not part of the package, and consequently Football Fitness appeals to a lot of women who have never been in a football club before, in Denmark and and probably also many other countries" concludes Ottesen.

In the training project, 41 untrained women aged 35‒50 years with mild high blood pressure of around 140/90 mmHg were randomly assigned to either a football training group or an inactive control group. The football group trained for 1 hour three times a week for 15 weeks. The training was performed on artificial grass in Torshavn in the Faroes. An extensive testing protocol was used before the start of training and on completion of the 15-week period.

The project was conducted as a collaboration between the University of Exeter (UK), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), University of the Faroe Islands, Faroese National Hospital, The Faroese Football Association, Rigshospitalet and the Copenhagen Centre for Team sport and Health at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark).

The Football Fitness project comprises research into Danish football clubs and was carried out by, among others, associate professor Laila Ottesen and PhD student Søren Bennike of the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health.

Provided by University of Exeter

Football improves strength in men with prostate cancer

Some of the participants in the FC Prostate Cancer research project after a training session. Credit: 'Copenhagen Centre for Teamsport and Health'.

20 jun 2014--Men with prostate cancer aged 43‒74 achieve bigger and stronger muscles, improve functional capacity, gain positive social experiences and the desire to remain active through playing football for 12 weeks. These are the findings of the "FC Prostate" trial, jointly conducted by the University Hospitals Centre for Health Care Research at The Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet and the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health at the University of Copenhagen.

Some of the participants in the FC Prostate Cancer research project after a training session. Download free press photo here. Credit: 'Copenhagen Centre for Teamsport and Health'.

The acclaimed Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports is today publishing two articles on recreational football (soccer) for 43‒74-year-old men with prostate cancer. The first article shows that twice-weekly 1-hour football training sessions for 12 weeks produce an increase in muscle mass and muscle strength despite concurrent androgen deprivation therapy. The second article describes how recreational football is a promising novel approach for health promotion in prostate cancer patients as the participants regain pride in their bodies, develop team spirit and mutual concern increasing their motivation for long-term participation in sport.

Regained body pride and strong social cohesion

"This is the first study of its kind in the world, and the results clearly show the potential of recreational football in the rehabilitation of prostate cancer patients," says project leader Julie Midtgaard, a psychologist at The Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet. "Just 12 weeks of football training resulted in the men regaining control and developing a unique exchange of feelings and recognition centered around the sport."

The attendance rate was high over the 12 weeks, and many of the participants are still playing football two years after the project began.

"The provision of football proved to be a good way of developing friendships between the men and a unique model for men with prostate cancer to take responsibility of their own health without giving up their claim to feel and behave like men," concludes Midtgaard.

Bigger and stronger muscles in spite of anti-hormone treatment

"Androgen deprivation therapy through medical castration is an effective treatment of prostate cancer patients but has adverse effects in the form of reduced muscle mass, higher fat percentage and reduced physical activity," explains Professor Peter Krustrup, who co-initiated the study with Midtgaard and has been studying the effects of recreational football for the past 10 years.

"Twelve weeks of football training increased muscle mass by half a kilo in the football group in spite of the anti-hormone treatment and contributed to a 15% increase in muscle strength. The players in the FC Prostate team thus achieved excellent gains in functional capacity as a result of 12 weeks of football training, measured among other things as a 8% improvement in performance in the stand-sit test," says Krustrup.

"Our study also showed that recreational football was fun and inclusive for the participants in FC Prostate, and for every training session the intensity was high, with an average heart rate of 85% of the participants' maximum heart rate," says Krustrup.

Football is good rehabilitation for prostate cancer patients

"Previously, we showed that recreational football is effective for preventing and treating lifestyle diseases. With this study, we can add that recreational football can also be used for rehabilitation of a large group of cancer patients," says Krustrup.

Midtgaard concludes: "The study indicates that men with prostate cancer benefit greatly from recreational football, both physically and mentally. It has also proved to be easy to keep the men involved in physical activity once they have started playing football. They look forward to going to training and enjoy it tremendously when they get there. The next step is to evaluate the effectiveness of football in a more natural setting. Therefore we are delighted that we have received the necessary funding to pursue an even bigger project in collaboration with the Danish Football Association in which more than 300 prostate cancer patients will be invited to play football in local football clubs in Denmark."

More information: The two articles are today being published in a special issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports on the topic of football for health.

Provided by University of Copenhagen

Football for untrained 70-year-old men

It is never too late to start playing football. Football boosts physical capacity and heart health, and minimizes the risk of falls and fractures in elderly men, who have never played football before or have not played for decades. Photo: Mikal Schlosser.

08 jun 2014--Research carried out by the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health in Denmark shows that untrained elderly men get markedly fitter and healthier as a result of playing football (soccer). After only 4 months of twice-weekly 1-hour training sessions, the men achieved marked improvements in maximum oxygen uptake, muscle function and bone mineralization.

Later today, three scientific articles will be published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports describing the fitness and health effects of football training for 63‒75-year-old untrained men. The Copenhagen researchers, led by Professor Peter Krustrup of the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health, University of Copenhagen, have a compelling case. Football is a fun, social and effective form of high-intensity interval training that is open to all.

Untrained elderly men can also play

"Our previous studies have shown that 70-year-old men with lifelong participation in football possess a postural balance and rapid muscle force that is comparable to that of 30-year-old untrained men," says Krustrup. "This time we have gone one step further by evaluating the intensity of football training as well as the health and fitness effects of football for untrained elderly men with little experience of football."

"The study revealed that inactive elderly men improved their maximum oxygen uptake by 15% and their performance during interval exercise by as much as 50% by playing football for 1 hour two times per week over 4 months. Moreover, muscle function was improved by 30% and bone mineralization in the femoral neck increased by 2%," says Krustrup.

"The results provide strong evidence that football is an intense, versatile and effective form of training, including for untrained elderly men. It is definitely never too late to start playing football. Football boosts physical capacity and heart health, and minimizes the risk of falls and fractures, including in elderly men who have never played football before or have not played for decades," says Krustrup.

Sky-high intensity

"The players had heart rates that were sky high and corresponded to the values obtained during elite football games," says Associate Professor Eva Wulff Helge of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen.

"GPS measurements and video analyses also showed that there are many fast runs, stops, turns, dribbles, passes and shots, providing strong stimuli for muscle and bone adaptations. The fast runs, intense actions and unorthodox movements may well be the cause of a large increase in bone mineralization in the femur bone and femoral neck after only 4 months and of the further 3% improvement from 4 to 12 months of training," says Helge.

An active everyday life and better health

"Our study shows that intense training such as football can change the lives of elderly men," says Krustrup.

"The remarkable improvements in aerobic fitness and muscle strength make it easier for the players to live an active life and overcome the physical challenges of everyday life such as climbing stairs, shopping, cycling and gardening. This benefits not only the players themselves, but also their families and friends," says Krustrup.

The scientific study

The researchers at the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health have conducted numerous randomized controlled training studies involving football and other team sports.

In the present study, a total of 27 untrained men aged 63 to 75 were recruited, tested and randomized into a football group, a strength training group and an inactive control group. The two training groups exercised for 1 hour twice a week for a year. A comprehensive testing battery was used at baseline, after 4 months and after 12 months. The research team, comprising 20 researchers from the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health, the University of Southern Denmark, Gentofte University Hospital and the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, was led by Professor Peter Krustrup, who has studied fitness and health effects for more than 10 years and published 55 articles in the area over the last 5 years.

More information: More information about the three new publications Schmidt et al. 2014, Helge et al. 2014 and Andersen et al. 2014: www.holdspil.ku.dk/english/news/2014/granddad-football/

Provided by University of Copenhagen