Aerobic capacity of handball players with hearing impairment

Study aim: To determine the aerobic capacity of handball players with hearing impairment as compared with the healthy ones.

Material and methods: Two groups of subjects took part in this study: healthy national handball players (NHB; n = 15) aged 18 - 33 years and international handball players with hearing impairment (IHB; n = 13), winners of European Deaf-Mute Championships in 2008 (Belgrade, Serbia) and second place in Deaflympic games in 2009 (Taipei, Taiwan), aged 21 - 48 years. Cosmed T-170 treadmill (FSPE1 protocol) and a breath-by-breath gas analyser were used to determine the following indices of aerobic capacity: maximal heart rate (HRmax), ‡O₂max, oxygen pulse, lung ventilation, tidal volume, maximum speed.

Results: Players from the IHB group attained significantly (p<0.05 - 0.01) lower values of oxygen pulse and maximum speed (by 12%), heart rate 1 min post-exercise (by 6%), lung ventilation (by 11%) and tidal volume (by 14%) compared with NHB group. IHB players had also twice lower weekly training volume. On the other hand, no significant between-group difference was found fo the relative O₂max.

Conclusion: The lower results attained by handball players with impaired hearing compared with the healthy ones could be attributed to lower training volume per week. Thus, an increase in the training volume for the disabled players would be recommendable.