The effects of cardiovascular fitness training in mentally retarded children

The effects of cardiovascular fitness training in mentally retarded children, Abant İzzet Baysal University Health Sciences Institute MSc Thesis in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Bolu, 2005. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of cardiovascular fitness training on level of cardiovascular fitness and respiratory function parameters in mentally retarded children. Thirty children with mild to moderate mental retardation were included into this study. Subjects were divided into two groups. The mean age of the experimental group was 10.94±1.98 years, and that of control group was 11.43±2.03 years. The experimental group underwent a training program for ten weeks to improve cardiovascular fitness. Control group did not receive any training program during this period. Cardiovascular fitness, body composition, speed, muscular endurance, hip flexion and knee flexion-extension isometric muscular strength, respiratory function parameters of experimental and control group were evaluated at the beginning of the study. These measurements were repeated at the end of 10 weeks. It was observed that cardiovascular fitness training significantly increased cardiovascular fitness, speed, muscular endurance, hip flexion and knee flexion-extension isometric muscular strength in the experimental group (p<0.05). No significant differences have been found in the body composition and respiratory function parameters (p>0.05). There were no statistically significant difference in any parameters in the control group (p>0.05). It has been observed that the cardiovascular fitness training program applied in our study has led an improvement on the level of cardiovascular fitness and other physical fitness parameters in mentally retarded children. In conclusion we suggest that this training program could be used to increase low level cardiovascular fitness in mentally retarded children. Key Words: Mentally retarded, cardiovascular fitness, respiratory function parameters, cardiovascular fitness training program.