Football training in men with prostate cancer undergoing androgen deprivation therapy: activity profile and short-term skeletal and postural balance adaptations

PURPOSE: To investigate the activity profile of football training and its short-term effects on bone mass, bone turnover markers (BTMs) and postural balance in men with prostate cancer (PCa) undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). METHODS: This was a randomised 12-week study in which men with PCa undergoing ADT were assigned to a football intervention group [FTG, n = 29, 67 +/- 7 (+/-SD) years] training 23 times per week for 4560 min or to a control group (n = 28, 66 +/- 5 years). The activity profile was measured using a 5-Hz GPS. The outcomes were total body and leg bone mineral content (BMC) and density, BTMs and postural balance. RESULTS: In the last part of the 12 weeks, FTG performed 194 +/- 41 accelerations and 296 +/- 65 decelerations at >0.6 m/s/s and covered a distance of 905 +/- 297 m at speeds >6 km/h and 2646 +/- 705 m per training session. Analysis of baseline-to-12-week change scores showed between-group differences in favour of FTG in total body BMC [26.4 g, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 5.8-46.9 g, p = 0.013], leg BMC (13.8 g, 95 % CI: 7.020.5 g, p <0.001) and markers of bone formation: P1NP (36.6 microg/L, 95 % CI: 10.462.8 microg/L, p = 0.008) and osteocalcin (8.6 microg/L, 95 % CI: 3.313.8 microg/L, p <0.01). The number of decelerations correlated to the increase in leg BMC (r = 0.65, p = 0.012). No between-group differences were observed for the remaining outcomes. CONCLUSION: Football training involves numerous runs, accelerations and decelerations, which may be linked to marked increases in bone formation markers and preserved bone mass in middle-aged and elderly men with PCa undergoing ADT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01711892