Exercise training in patients with chronic airways obstruction.

Area of Science:

• Exercise Physiology
• Respiratory Medicine
• Sports Science

Background:

• Respiratory muscle training (RMT) and exercise training strategies are crucial for skeletal and respiratory muscle function.
• Existing research suggests breathing and exercise training can improve gas exchange, but specific techniques have varying effects.
• High-intensity exercise may enhance ventilatory muscle function due to high ventilation demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review studies on specific and non-specific RMT techniques and novel exercise strategies.
• To evaluate the effects of new training protocols on cardiorespiratory, metabolic, and blood gas responses.
• To assess the impact of these training methods on normal subjects and patients with chronic airway obstruction (CAO).

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on RMT and exercise training.
• Description and application of two novel training techniques: 'above anaerobic threshold 40 min constant exercise' and '45 min square-wave endurance exercise test' (SWEET).
• Measurement of cardiorespiratory, metabolic, arterial blood gases, and acid-base balance responses in participants.

Main Results:

• Breathing through inspiratory resistance presents both advantages and disadvantages, including potential hypoxemia and pulmonary hypertension.
• Training led to a reduction in ventilation (VE) correlated with decreased end-exercise lactate.
• Maximal ventilation and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) demonstrated increases post-training.

Conclusions:

• High-intensity exercise and novel training strategies can improve ventilatory muscle function and exercise capacity.
• The described training methods show promise for enhancing performance in both healthy individuals and CAO patients.
• Further research into techniques like arm-training is warranted.