[Use of the heart rate during exercise for the determination of anaerobic threshold in children].

Ethical, economic and other reasons prevent assessment of the anaerobic threshold in children by invasive methods such as estimation of the lactate concentration in blood or ventilation parameters. Conconi developed a non-invasive field test which can be used to assess the anaerobic threshold by analysis of a heart rate curve during a graded load. Although this test was originally used only in adults top sportsmen, it can be applied according to the most recent findings also in children and not only under field conditions but also in the laboratory. By using standard test protocols a high correlation can be obtained with the anaerobic threshold assessed by the lactate method.