Intrahospital Weight and Aerobic Training in Children With Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to assess the effects of an 8-wk intrahospital combined circuit weight and aerobic training program performed by children with cystic fibrosis (of low–moderate severity and stable clinical condition) on the following outcomes: cardiorespiratory fitness (V˙O_2peak) and muscle strength (five-repetition maximum (5RM) bench press, 5RM leg press, and 5RM seated row) (primary outcomes) and pulmonary function (forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s), weight, body composition, functional mobility (Timed Up and Down Stairs and 3-m Timed Up and Go tests), and quality of life (secondary outcomes). We also determined the effects of a detraining period (4 wk) on the aforementioned outcomes.

Methods: We performed a randomized controlled trial design. Eleven participants in each group (controls: 7 boys, age = 11 ± 3 yr, body mass index = 17.2 ± 0.8 kgöm⁻² (mean ± SEM); intervention: 6 boys, age = 10 ± 2 yr, body mass index = 18.4 ± 1.0 kgöm⁻²) started the study.

Results: Adherence to training averaged 95.1% ± 7.4%. We observed a significant group × time interaction effect (P = 0.036) for V˙O_2peak. In the intervention group, V˙O_2peak significantly increased with training by 3.9 mLökg⁻¹Imin⁻¹ (95% confidence interval = 1.8–6.1 mLökg⁻¹Imin⁻¹, P = 0.002), whereas it decreased during the detraining period (−3.4 mLökg⁻¹Imin⁻¹, 95% confidence interval = −5.7 to −1.7 mLökg⁻¹Imin⁻¹, P = 0.001). In contrast, no significant changes were observed during the study period within the control group. Although significant improvements were also observed after training for all 5RM strength tests (P < 0.001 for the interaction effect), the training improvements were not significantly decreased after the detraining period in the intervention group (all P > 0.1 for after training vs detraining). We found no significant training benefits in any of the secondary outcomes.

Conclusions: A short-term combined circuit weight and aerobic training program performed in a hospital setting induces significant benefits in the cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength of children with cystic fibrosis.

Full article can be found at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756304?src=nl_topic

Thankful Thursday: Sick Baby & Dog Sitter

It's thankful Thursday time! We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to take this opportunity just to write down each and everything that comes to mind. Please take this time to share with us what you're thankful for as well. If you have a blog expressing your thankfulness, please share the link! Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

I'm thankful for my coworkers/job. I may have one of the most accommodating and fun jobs in the world: the Pediatric Pulmonary Center at the University of Arizona. I work with a set of fabulous people, and to top it off, they're all about family first. Yesterday I was down at the office (I generally work from home) for meetings, but Ronnie had a call that he had to take while I was at the office. This meant someone needed to watch Mckenna, and that someone was me. They were totally fine with me having her in the office with me for a bit...what a blessing. What's even better, they're cool with her in the office more frequently while Ronnie's in the hospital. I was so stressed about jobs, etc and man the Lord sure provided the best job ever with the BEST coworkers!

I'm thankful for a happy, sick baby. Mckenna has a bit of a cold, but you'd never know it if she didn't breathe like a gremlin, cough and have a slight temperature. She's still happy as a clam.

I'm thankful for date nights. No we didn't get crazy and go for a night out on the town, but the other night after Mckenna went to bed, we went and snuggled up outside on our patio, turned the heater on, and enjoyed each other's company. That's date night enough for me :)

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for various ways of coffee making. As many of you know, I'm a coffee addict. I always have a cup or three when I first wake up, and I always have a cup before I go to bed. Recently, our coffee machine busted, so I've had to come up with other ways to get my fix. One way that I have done this is with a stove top espresso maker. It's super old-school and I love it. It makes great espresso and I've been cranking out vanilla lattes left and right!

I'm thankful for a willing dog sitter. Anytime Mandi and I go out of town, or I'm in the Hole, my mom always steps up and takes Jezzabel into her home. Now, I must point out that she loves her as much as I do and often refers to JBell as her first granddaughter, but still, it's something she doesn't have to do, but does. It's so awesome to know that we always have a safe place for my four-legged friend.

I'm thankful the baby carrier thingamajig. We also call it the magical sleep machine as Mckenna always enters wide-eyed and leaves, or stays, sawing logs. It really comes in handy when I'm on Mr. Mom duty cause it frees up my hands to still get some work or things around the house done. It's also perfect for our many walks throughout the day!

So, what are you thankful for today?

Quick At-Home Workout

We're all busy. None of us have 30 minutes to spare each and every day to get in a solid workout. But, as many of you know, one thing I preach around here is "a little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing". So, on those days that you only have a few minutes to spare, I present to you The Super Quick At-Home Workout :)

This will hit almost your entire body and best of all, it will make you breathe some deep breaths.

Start out with a wall sit. You'll want to do 3 sets of these and hold them for as long as you can.



Now that your warm, we're going to get you into a front plank. You'll do 3 sets of these and hold them for time as well! (FYI - the extremely fit instructor in this video is none other than super cyster Julie D!!)


What would a quick workout be without isolating those arms? Finish off this at-home workout with 3 sets of 10 (or as many as you can do to 10) of chair dips.



That's it, you're done!! How'd that feel?

Jump!!!

We took a big step forward in the old Sharpe household today!! We left Mckenna-bear with complete and total strangers for the first time ever!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Oh, sorry, that was Mandi you heard screaming :)

Mandi and I were on our afternoon walk when she said, "Maybe we take Mckenna to the childcare at the gym and workout together today?" which was quickly followed by, "Ahhh, I just wanted to see how I felt with saying it out loud...and I don't like it!". I figured that was the end of the conversation and we would just split up our gym time like we have been doing since Mckenna was born.

After we got home and I hopped on a treatment, Mandi sent me a message on AIM (which by the way is how we communicate at home even though we're only a room away). It said - I'm doing it. I'm calling right now and we are just going to go for it!. I was very proud in that moment. You see, I have absolutely no reservations leaving Mckenna into the care of others. I've never been a worst-case scenario kind of a guy, so I figure that everything will work out at the very least, acceptable. Mandi on the other hand? I wouldn't say she is a worst-case scenario kind of a girl, but she is a self-proclaimed control freak! Letting go of something so close to her, whether it be me, Mckenna, work, etc can be a little tough for the wifey. So when I saw that message come across the screen, I beamed with pride. Both of my girls are growing up!! (Kidding babe) :)

I had such a great time working out with Mandi. It's the first time we've been able to hang out at the gym together for quite some time and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Mandi even agreed to partake in the workout I've been doing for the past couple of months that is an absolute killer. It definitely kicked her butt and I can't wait to see how sore she's going to be in a couple of days. She's a trooper though - she looked about 100 times better than I did after my first time going through it.

Anyway, wouldn't you know, after our workout Mckenna was still alive. Better yet, she was sound asleep in a little bouncy chair. All of the caretakers at the gym seem very kind and it was actually heartwarming to see them handle Mckenna with such care. I think it's safe to say that we'll be back.

It turned out to be one of the best times that I've had with Mandi and it was all a result of us deciding (and more so her) to jump!

What are you going to jump into today???

Permission to Nag

There are many things I love about Ronnie (obviously, I did choose to marry him after all). One of the things I really love and respect about him is the fact that he is very self aware, especially when it comes to taking care of himself. Let me explain.

I think it's easy to kid ourselves when it comes to how we're doing at taking care of ourselves. For example, I may feel like I'm eating really healthy, and then I sit down and write what I've eaten for the last few days, and soon realize that I've probably had 3 too many handfuls of chocolate chips, not nearly enough fruits and veggies, and slacked on water consumption. Or I may think I'm doing well with my working out, but realize I've gone to the gym half as much as I did while pregnant. These explains seem a little detailed? That would be because in writing this I did a bit of self reflection...yikes! It's easy to have our perceptions be way off from reality when it comes to how we're taking care of ourselves. I'm definitely guilty of this!

Somehow (probably not a fluke, I'm sure it's the way God wired him, knowing he'd have CF and how important it'd be) Ronnie is very aware of how he's doing when it comes to taking care of himself. He knows when he's slacking and he knows when he's kickin' booty. The best part is, when he knows he's slacking, he makes every effort to get back on track. I totally love that about him. Just yesterday he said, "hey honey, call me out about doing my treatments and getting to the gym this week. I can feel myself slipping a bit." How many people ask their spouse to be a nag and call them out? I'll answer that for you, not many. But he knows how important it is for him to go above and beyond to take care of himself as best as humanly possible. And you know what I love even more? "Slipping" meant he was only doing 3 treatments and he wants to do 4, even though his doctors only have asked him to do 2. And he's been going to the gym 4-5 times, instead of 5-6. Even though he was doing well, he was aware of the fact he wasn't doing as well as he should, and recognized he needed some external motivation to get him going. The natural born nag in me was thrilled...permission to nag?! You got it!

It's all too easy to kid ourselves about how healthy or unhealthy we're living (CF or not). And sometimes it's hard to get back on the wagon alone. So this week, do as we're doing, give someone in your life permission to be a nag.