Effects of a 7 months rehabilitative exercise training program in 50 type 2 diabetes patients

Schulze A2 , Thiery J3 , Busse M1

General Outpatient Ambulance1, Dental Ambulance2 of the Institute of Sports Medicine & Prevention, Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis3, University of Leipzig (1Director: Prof. M.W. Busse, MD) (2Head: A. Schulze, DDS) (3Director: Prof. J. Thiery, MD)

Summary

Schulze A, Thiery J, Busse M. Effect of a 7 months rehabilitative exercise training program in 50 type 2 diabetic
patients. Clinical Sports Medicine International (CSMI) 2009, 3: 1-4.

Purpose:Overweight and diabetic people mostly do not like to move. A moderate exercise program one or two times a week is more likely to be accepted long term than a frequent and/or high intensity training. So when aiming for a consistent life style change the important question does not concern the effects of vigorous training. This has been the focus of numerous studies. The real core to aim at is the minimum threshold of efficiency, because people do not accept more effort than that.

Materials and methods:50 type 2 diabetic patients (61±7,4years) participated in the program for a mean of 7.1±3.2months. 32/18 patients had an oral/ insulin treatment. The endurance/resistance exercise training consisted of 45min sessions twice a week. We looked at the effects of a seven months recreational training program on diabetic specific parameters: weight, BMI, blood glucose, HbA1c, blood pressure, and exercise parameters: pre- and post-exercise blood glucose, rate-pressure product, and cardiac load.

Results:Body composition and metabolic parameters (all data before/ after the whole training period; respective standard deviations given in brackets): Weight: 98,4/ 98kg (19/ 18kg); BMI 34,4/ 34,1 (5,9/ 5,5); HbA1c 6,6/6,3% (0,9/ 0,7%; p<0,002); blood glucose: 8,2/ 8,2mmol/l (3/ 2,8mmol/l). Cardio-circulatory and training effects: Pre-exercise heart rate (HR): 80/ 76bpm (16/ 13bpm; p<0,006); pre-exercise blood pressure (RRsys): 148/ 140torr (19/ 16torr; p<0,003); endurance load: 40/ 68watt (14/ 21watt; p<0,0001) at the same rate-pressure product index (RPPi=HRxRRsys/ 1000) of 16/ 16 (3,8/ 3,7).

Conclusion: A seven months recreational exercise training program markedly improved all day cardio-circulatory capacity by about 70% but had no relevant effects to diabetes or metabolic parameters. These results indicate that a holistic approach should change not only one but all three major aspects of the diabetes therapy: Exercise, nutrition/diet and medication.

Keywords: diabetes, rehabilitative training, physical exercise, blood pressure, heart rate, endurance capacity