Benefits of Incremental Pace Walking in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Abstract

Background: Exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) patients can be challenging due to exertional dyspnea. It has been suggested that gradual exercise training may result in improved exercise capacity and decreased dyspnea levels in stable COPD patients. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the response of COPD patients to incremental pace walking and breathing retraining exercises. Methods: 40 subjects who were clinically diagnosed to have Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification- Stage 3, Severe COPD, and referring to our centre were divided equally into a control and an experimental group. The mean age of control group was 60.4±5.6 and experimental group was 59.5±6.1. Male population comprised of 65% and 70% of the subjects in control and experimental groups respectively. The control arm received breathing retraining exercises and level surface walking for six weeks, whereas experimental group received incremental pace walking for six weeks in addition to what control group has received. Exercise tolerance was assessed by distance covered in six minute walk test (6 MWT) and dyspnea levels by visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: The average increase in six minute walk distance (6 MWD) was 25.85±10.79 and 75.84 ± 16.80 meters, respectively for the control and the experimental group. The average reduction in dyspnea after the 6 MWT was 11.0 ± 5.21 and 19.28 ± 3.89 mm, respectively for the control and the experimental group. Both these changes in outcome measurement were found to be statistically significant (p< 0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that incremental pace walking with breathing retraining exercises are beneficial in improving exercise tolerance and dyspnea levels of elderly patients with COPD.