Fourteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Children with type 1 diabetes mellitus face barriers to doing physical activity. One way to resolve this issue is to provide evidence that can help them reduce their fears. It was not clear how a recreational sport along with a reduction in calorie intake can help them improve some of the health parameters. The aim of our study is to determine how recreational football along with a control in calorie intake affects musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health-related fitness of adolescent boys with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Four groups with ten participants each were created. The participants were randomly distributed into the groups. One group went through the football and calorie control intervention. The other two groups received only football or calorie control interventions, and the fourth group received no intervention. The duration of the intervention was 12 weeks, conducted twice a week. Each football game lasted for 1.5 hours. The tested fitness parameters were as follows: abdominal endurance, explosive strength, handgrip strength, trunk flexibility, and estimated VO2 max. Any changes were considered significant if p ≤ 0.050 and the effect size (ES) ≤ 42 % or ES ≥ 58 %. Our results show only the group with football and caloric control experienced an increase in all parameters. The football group experienced only increases in explosive strength and handgrip strength. The study shows that teenage boys with type 1 diabetes mellitus have improvements in musculoskeletal and cardiovascular fitness in 12 weeks if football is combined with diet control.