The Health Effects of Small-sided Team Handball

The Physiological Health Effects of 12 Weeks of Small-sided Team Handball Training in Young Adult Women and Men

The purpose of the project was to examine the fitness and health effects of participation in recreational Team Handball for untrained 20-30 year old healthy men and women.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Recreational handball

Detailed Description

Fitness and health effects of 12 weeks of recreational team handball in untrained adult men and women aged 20-30 years"

Adult men and women aged 20-30 years will be recruited to take part in a 12-week intervention with recreational team handball. Half of the participants are men (n=32), who are randomly assigned to a group playing recreational team handball (n=16) and an inactive control group (n=16). The women (n=40) are also divided and assigned to a group with regular participation in recreational team handball (n=20) and an inactive control group (n=20). The training sessions will be offered 2-3 times weekly for 70 minutes per session by a supervised trainer. The sessions involves an injury preventive warm-up and ball exercises for 15 minutes followed by recreational handball on small pitches such as 4 vs 4. A comprehensive testing protocol is conducted before and after the training period. The measurements includes body composition and bone mineralization, blood pressure, resting heart rate, fasting blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol and bone markers. In addition, a number of physical tests which involves fitness level (VO2max), intermittent work, muscle strength and balance will further be conducted. The testing takes place at the University of Copenhagen. The training sessions will also take place at the University of Copenhagen or in a handball club near the University. The study will be approved by the local ethical committee of Copenhagen.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 72
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years to 30 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy women and men from 20-30 years old
• If women, a regular menstrual cycle length (25 to 32 days) with or without use of contraceptives.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Known familiar diseases
• If been smoking for the last two years before recruitment
• If involved in any regular physical training two years before recruitment
• Women: a peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) higher than 45 mL/min/kg
• Men: a peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) higher than 51 mL/min/kg

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Active group of men; 4 groups are randomized for 12 weeks of intervention; 2 groups are active, 2 groups are inactive: *1 group of men playing recreational handball	Behavioral: Recreational handball
Experimental: Active group of women; 4 groups are randomized for 12 weeks of intervention; 2 groups are active, 2 groups are inactive: *1 group of women playing recreational handball	Behavioral: Recreational handball
Experimental: Inactive group of men; 4 groups are randomized for 12 weeks of intervention; 2 groups are active, 2 groups are inactive: *1 group of men continuing their normal lifestyle patterns	Behavioral: Control
Experimental: Inactive group of women; 4 groups are randomized for 12 weeks of intervention; 2 groups are active, 2 groups are inactive: *1 group of women continuing their normal lifestyle patterns	Behavioral: Control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
VO2max - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	VO2max (mL/kg/min) is a measure of the cardiorespiratory during a treadmill test	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Fat percentage - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Measure of fat percentage (%) performed by a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA scan)	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Muscle mass - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Measure of muscle mass (kg) performed by a DXA scan	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Mineral bone density - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Mineral bone density (g/cm2) performed by a DXA scan	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Bone mass - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Bone mass (kg) performed by a DXA scan	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Strength: Isokinetic Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Isokinetic MVC (Nm) performed in a isokinetic dynamometer	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Strength: Isometric MVC - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Isometric MVC (Nm) performed in a isokinetic dynamometer	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Strength: Countermovement maximal jumps (CMJ) jump height - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	CMJ jump height (cm) performed on a force plate	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Strength: CMJ jump height - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	CMJ peak (W/kg) performed on a force plate	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Postural balance: Sway area - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Sway area (cm2) performed on a force plate	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Postural balance: Sway length - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Sway length (mm) performed on a force plate	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Citrate synthase (CS) activity - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for CS activity (ug/l)	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase (HAD) activity - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for HAD activity (ug/l)	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Specific fibre type cross sectional area (CSA) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for specific fibre type CSA (μm2)	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Fiber type composition - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for fibre type composition (%)	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Capillaries (cap./fiber) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for cap./fibre	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Capillaries (cap./mm2) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention	Muscle biopsies were taken from the male subjects and analyzed for cap./mm2	Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Copenhagen

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Fristrup B, Krustrup P, Andersen JL, Hornstrup T, Lowenstein FT, Larsen MA, Helge JW, Povoas SCA, Aagaard P. Effects of small-sided recreational team handball training on mechanical muscle function, body composition and bone mineralization in untrained young adults-A randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2020 Nov 18;15(11):e0241359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241359. eCollection 2020.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 20, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 27, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 30, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 27, 2020
• Last Verified: January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: H-15008361

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No