Research of training method using repeated rolling movement for Boccia players with severe cerebral palsy

Abstract

Boccia is a targeted sport that has been devised in Europe for people with severe cerebral palsy (CP) or similar severe limbs dysfunction. In the target sport, it is important that the parasympathetic nerve becomes dominant during the competition, and it is said that the parasympathetic nerve activity tends to become dominant by training to raise the heart rate. The training protocol incorporates a rolling movement, which is an Activities of Daily Living (ADL) that can be performed even with severe CP. The purpose of this study is to verify whether interval rolling movement (IR), which repeats rolling movement at the maximum speed, is effective as training for increasing heart rate associated with effort exercise for people with severe CP. One workout consisted of 1minute rolling movement and 30seconds of rest, and three times of this workout were as 1set of IR. Subjects performed 3sets of IR with a 5minutes rest and performed this training for 6months. Six severe CP boccia players were divided into two groups, 1/week group and 1/month group, depending on the frequency of intervention. As a result, the post-exercise heart rate and the number of turns per minute increased significantly in the weekly group, and no significant change was observed in the monthly group. For severe CP boccia players, it was suggested that conducting IR at least once a week is an effective method of training aimed at increasing heart rate associated with effort exercise.