CARDIOCIRCULATORY AND METABOLIC STRAIN DURING ROWING ERGOMETRY IN CORONARY PATIENTS

To investigate the suitability of rowing for cardiac rehabilitation, t he cardiocirculatory and metabolic reactions during rowing (RE) and cy cle (CE) ergometry were compared. Ten male normotensive subjects of an outpatient heart group (age 56 +/- 7 years, maximum performance on CE 2.0 +/- 0.4 W.kg(-1)) carried out a stepwise increasing test on an is okinetic rowing ergometer and a CE (increasing by 25 W every 3 min). I n a 1-min break after each step, heart rate and blood pressure, blood concentrations of lactate, and the free catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline were measured. Four patients showed signs of myocardial ischemia occurring almost one step earlier on RE than on CE. In RE, th e endurance and maximum performance were about 20 W lower than on CE. At similar workloads, heart rate, blood pressure, and concentrations o f lactate and catecholamines measured significantly higher on RE than on CE. At workloads above the individual anaerobic threshold, the incr ease in adrenaline and noradrenaline was significantly higher on RE th an on CE. The results can be explained by the lower work efficiency, t he higher isometric demands with increased cardiac pressure load, and the higher mental stress in RE. Rowing is only suitable in cardiac reh abilitation when well-defined prerequisites have been considered.