Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2005 , Vol 51 , Num 1

Effects of Ventilatory Muscle Training and Aerobic Exercise Program in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Quality of Life

Ülkü Sarpkaya 1 ,Hakan Tuna 2 ,Erhan Tabakoğlu 3 ,Gündüz Altıay 3
1 Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Edirne
2 Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Edirne
3 Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Göğüs Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Edirne

Although there have been important improvements for medical management of the diseases in recent decades, there are up-growing evidences of need for supporting rehabilitation programs to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. We aimed to investigate the effecs of ventilatory muscle training and aerobic exercise program in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on quality of life. Our study designed for this aim was conducted in 19 COPD patients. After completion of 6-8 weeks home-based threshold inspiratory muscle trainer program, hospital-based 4 weeks intensive bicycle ergometer exercise training was conducted for each patient. Six minutes walk distance, Short Form-36 and St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire scores were assessed at baseline, after completion of ventilatory muscle training and finally at the end of the aerobic exercise training. Consecutive functional and health related quality of life improvements were seen after both ventilator muscle exercises and aerobic exercise separated as pulmonary rehabilitation components (p<0.05). These results confirm our thought that pulmonary rehabilitation could be separated confidently and additional benefits could be more powerful with preparing the respiratory system before aerobic exercise training.  

Keywords : Chronic obstructive lung disease, ventilatory muscle training, aerobic exercise, quality of life