Exercise best for cardiac-rehab patients

Washington, June 24 (ANI): Exercise alone proved a far more powerful tonic for heart patients than creatine supplements to increase their muscle strength during rehabilitation, concluded a new study.

They claimed that while creatine supplements have been beneficial for athletes in gaining stronger muscles, but it does not show similar effects in cardiac patients, who undergo heart-training workouts as part of rehabilitation.

Drs Cornelissen and Defoor along with colleagues created a double blinded, randomised placebo controlled trial to test the effects of creatine supplements used alongside an exercise programme.

The study focused on patients with coronary artery disease or chronic heart failure over a three-month period.

Previous studies have shown that chronic heart failure patients' skeletal muscle strength can be improved with creatine supplements giving better strength and endurance in cycle ergomotry tests (on a stationary, gym-style bicycle).

The researchers wanted to find out whether creatine would help with cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength and endurance during a cardiac rehabilitation programme, too.

They reasoned that test results for older patients and cardiac patients may are likely to be lower due primarily to peripheral muscle weakness, and so giving these muscles a creatine boost may lead to more effective rehabilitation fitness results.

As well as measuring aerobic power, strength, endurance and recovery, the researchers looked at patients' quality of life scores and checked they were taking the supplements or placebos according to schedule.

The bottom line was that among the 80 patients in the study, the researchers found no significant differences between the two groups.

"Contrary to our hypothesis, the magnitude of increase in muscle strength and/or endurance was not greater in the group with creatine supplementation," said study supervisor, Professor Luc Vanhees.

The rehabilitation programme led to better leg strength, and endurance and recovery and VO2 peak were significantly higher than when patients started.

It may be the case that the large effect of the exercise training covered up any smaller effect that was down to the creatine.

The researchers also think it is worth considering a therapeutic role for creatine once cardiac patients are already well established with their rehabilitation programme, as it may further boost their performance and let them get past the 'training hump,' although further study is needed to test this hypotheses.

The results appear in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation. (ANI)