Muscle thickness and pennation angle in overweight persons with moderate haemophilia A after resistance and combined training: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Muscular atrophy and overweightness develop arthropathy in persons with haemophilia (PWH), and exercise increases their muscle strength and decreases their body weight. Musculoskeletal ultrasonography may be a non-invasive, safe, valid, and reliable tool to investigate muscle thickness (MT) and pennation angle (PA) after exercise training. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of 6 weeks of resistance training (RT) and combined resistance and aerobic training (CT) on MT and PA in overweight persons with moderate haemophiliaA. Forty-two persons with moderate haemophiliaA with a mean age of 35-55 years and a BMI of 25-30kg/m2 were randomly assigned to three groups of 14, namely RT, CT, and control. The RT group performed 40 minutes of RT, and the CT group performed 20 min of RT and 20 min of aerobic training. The PA and MT of the biceps brachii (BB), triceps brachii (TB), vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) were measured before and after the intervention using B-mode ultrasonography. Significant increases were observed in the MT of VM, VL, MG, BB, and TB and PA of VM, VL, and MG in the RT and CT groups compared to the control group (p<.001). No significant differences were observed between the intervention groups. Both RT and CT were effective in enhancing MT and PA in overweight persons with moderate haemophiliaA.