Krafttraining gleich Krafttraining? Neue Erkenntnisse für die onkologische Trainingstherapie

Abstract

© 2015, Georg Thieme. All rights reserved. Exercise therapy is an integral part of today's oncological rehabilitation. In order to optimize the outcome of exercise programs in consideration of side effects of cancer and cancer therapies, further studies are necessary. Along with aerobic and coordination exercise, resistance training is an essential part of exercise therapy. Resistance training aids to combat side effects of lymphedema, antiandrogen therapy and cachexia among others. The present study investigated whether high load resistance training is superior to moderate resistance training regarding the increase of physical strength. For this purpose, 31 tumor patients without prior resistance training experience (different entities and therapeutic status) were randomized into either a moderate training group (n=17) or a hypertrophy training group (n=14). For the first 8 weeks, all patients trained in a muscular endurance circuit (2 rounds) consisting of 6 machines (20 repetitions on each), covering the big muscle groups. For the following 8 weeks the MT continued to lift at 20 repetitions, whereas the resistance for the HT was increased to a point where only 8-12 repetitions were possible. The maximum force was determined prior to the intervention (t0), after 8 weeks (t1), and after 16 weeks (t2), using a hypothetical one repetition maximum (h1RM) test. While both groups had comparable baseline levels, the results indicate that there was a significant increase in strength from t1 to t2 in the HT in almost all muscle groups. It can be concluded that a HT is vastly superior to MT regarding the increase of strength. When contraindications are absent, high load resistance training can be recommended, especially for increasing muscle mass. Whether solely the increase of strength plays a central or a peripheral role for the treatment of side effects, such as the fatigue syndrome, needs to be investigated by further studies.