Heart rate, energy expenditure, and affective responses from children participating in trampoline park sessions compared with traditional extra-curricular sports clubs

Abstract

Background: Lack of physical activity (PA) is becoming an issue in younger populations. Trampoline parks are newly popular environments for PA yet research on their use is scarce. Thus the present study compared heart rate, energy expenditure, and affective responses in children participating in trampoline park sessions compared with extracurricular sports clubs. Methods: Children (aged 6-11 years; n = 16 females, n = 10 males) participated in 3 trampoline park sessions and 3 extracurricular sports club sessions lasting ~45 minutes over 3 weeks. Heart rate, energy expenditure, and affective responses through the circumplex model, were measured. Results: Both conditions elicited moderate-vigorous PA. Average heart rate (mean difference [95%CIs] = 27.6 fc [23.5 to 31.8]), peak heart rate (mean difference [95%CIs] = 24.2 fc [20.8 to 27.6]) and energy expenditure (mean difference [95%CIs] = 3.2 kcals.min-1 [2.7 to 3.6]) were all significantly higher for the trampoline sessions. Affective responses for both conditions elicited feelings of ‘excitement’. Conclusion: Both extracurricular sports clubs and trampoline park activities provide moderate-vigorous PA, though the latter may result in higher heart rate and energy expenditure responses. Both however produce similar positive affective responses. As such, both could be valuable options for PA opportunities for children.