Clinical trial NCT04247724: The Health Effects of Small-sided Team Handball
Official title: The Physiological Health Effects of 12 Weeks of Small-sided Team Handball Training in Young Adult Women and Men
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Lead sponsor: University of Copenhagen
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-01-30
Enrollment: 72
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 30
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: 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.

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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: VO2max - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Fat percentage - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Muscle mass - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Mineral bone density - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Bone mass - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Other outcomes:
measure: Strength: Isokinetic Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Strength: Isometric MVC - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Strength: Countermovement maximal jumps (CMJ) jump height - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Strength: CMJ jump height - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Postural balance: Sway area - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Postural balance: Sway length - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Citrate synthase (CS) activity - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase (HAD) activity - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Specific fibre type cross sectional area (CSA) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Fiber type composition - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Capillaries (cap./fiber) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
measure: Capillaries (cap./mm2) - change is being assessed after 12 weeks of intervention
timeFrame: Measured before and after 12 weeks of intervention
Locations:
Study officials:
References:
citation: 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.