Cardiac Autonomic Activity, Physical Fitness, and Arterial Blood Pressure of Kungfu Practitioners

Kungfu practice that provides aerobic and anaerobic exercise routines along with breathing exercise and meditation is not typically prescribed as exercise therapy. Lack of evidence to support Kungfu training as being comparable to other exercise regimens contributes to this situation. We compared the cardiovascular autonomic control and physical fitness estimates of 20 Kungfu practitioners with 20 subjects matched for age, BMI, and physical activity levels who regularly participated in other recreational sports. We found that there was no significant difference between the resting heart rate, resting short-term heart rate variability parameters, standard cardiac autonomic function test indices, and the heart rate recovery parameters between the Kungfu group and the Sports groups. Neither was there any difference in the indirect measures of fitness between the two groups. However, the resting mean arterial pressure in the Kungfu group (81.5 +/- 5.0 mm Hg) was significantly lower than that in the Sports group (85.0 +/- 5.0 mm Hg) (P = .031). Kungfu practitioners had similar cardiovascular autonomic parameters and indirect measures of physical fitness, but lower resting mean arterial pressure, than practitioners of other forms of sporting activities. The causality and temporality of factors studied need future investigations, given the unique nature of Kungfu training, and for its clinical therapy applications.