Muscle Training Effectiveness in the Degree of Dyspnea and Aerobic Capacity in COPD

Overview

Objective: To estimate the effectiveness of muscle training, the degree of dyspnea and aerobic capacity in patients over 50 with COPD, in a health care institution provider in Antioquia. Question: What is the effectiveness of muscle training, in the degree of dyspnea and aerobic capacity in COPD patients over 50 years, in a health service institution provider in the department of Antioquia? Hypothesis: Muscle training causes changes in the degree of dyspnea and aerobic capacity, other than the breathing exercises and relaxation Design: Randomized clinical trial with allocation and blinding of the autcomes assesor. Participants: COPD patients stage II and II, male and female, over 50 years old, who are attending to a community health service provider in the department of Antioquia. Intervention: A physiotherapeutic intervention using PNF technique was applied to the experimental physiotherapy group versus Yoga sessions applied to the other group. Twelve weeks protocol performing three sessions per week. Outcome measures: Dyspnea degree and aerobic capacity was measured using the MMRC scale and the six minute walking test respectively at the begining and the end of the study.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is defined by GOLD (The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) as a disease process characterized by progressive airflow limitation associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to particles or harmful gases and is not fully reversible. This restriction generates an expiratory flow of air entrapment resulting hyperinflation, coupled with the effects that systemic, structural changes occur in skeletal muscles which leads to greater fatigue causing dyspnea. Consequently, patients with COPD require participation of accessory muscles of respiration, which should have a dual function during activities involving the upper limbs, to supply the ventilatory requirements and movements of the shoulder girdle, which increases dyspnea carrying the patient to stop their activities, leading to physical deconditioning and progressively decreasing aerobic capacity. This demonstrates the need to improve the resistance of the upper limb muscles in these patients, thus contributing to a reduction in the degree of dyspnea and improved their aerobic capacity. The investigators propose a study aimed at determining the effectiveness of muscle training in the degree of dyspnea and aerobic capacity in COPD.