Using Ballistocardiography to Evaluate Cardiac Performance in Trained Male Ice Hockey Players

Abstract

During exercise the demand on the heart increases considerably. Evidence suggests that long-term exercise training causes adaptations to the heart that are not present in the sedentary, and is commonly referred to as athlete’s heart. It is not unusual for the cardiac adaptations to mimic certain pathological conditions. Therefore, being able to differentiate the athletic heart from the pathological heart has important implications for trained athletes. The presence of cardiovascular disease permits disqualification from competition or cessation of training to prevent progression of the disease or sudden cardiac death. Commonly used diagnostic tools to evaluate cardiac performance (e.g., echocardiography) can be time consuming and costly, especially for mass screening of athletes. Ballistocardiography (BCG) is a non-invasive technology that has been used to record ultra-low frequency vibrations of the heart allowing for the measurement of important cardiac cycle events including timing and amplitudes of contraction. Recent developments in BCG have made this technology simple to use, as well as time- and costefficient in comparison to other more complicated and invasive techniques used to evaluate cardiac performance. Therefore, the following studies in this thesis project have attempted to (a) demonstrate the utility of using BCG as a screening device, and (b) determine any differences occurring in the athletic heart. The timing and amplitude of cardiac events in trained ice hockey players as well as a recreationally active control group were evaluated and compared using independent sample t-tests. Results found in the following studies demonstrated the utility of using simple, non-invasive BCG to measure cardiac performance, particularly for mass screening. As well, significant differences in cardiac performance were found between trained participants and the control group, thus allowing for the conclusion that regular exercise training leads to physiological changes of the heart.