Beneficial Effect of Water-Based Exercise Training on Exercise Capacity in COPD Patients-a Pilot Study.
Noppawan Charususin, Thiti Sricharoenchai, Karan Pongpanit and 4 others
PMID 36188776WHAT IT FOUND
In people with stable COPD, an 8-week water-based exercise program improved endurance walk time far more than the same land-based exercises.
Inspiratory breathing muscle strength also increased more in the water group. Other measures did not differ between groups.
Key findings
01Water-based exercise produced a significantly larger improvement in endurance shuttle walk time than land-based exercise.
02Water-based exercise produced a significantly larger improvement in maximal inspiratory pressure than land-based exercise.
03No significant between-group differences were found for pulmonary function, peripheral muscle strength, balance, or the 6-minute and incremental shuttle walk tests.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was very small, with only 14 participants analyzed, which limits the reliability of the findings. Participants and therapists were not blinded to the intervention. The water group received supervised training while the land group exercised at home with telephone follow-up, meaning the difference in supervision could have influenced the results. Baseline values for some outcome measures were already better in the water group, which may have affected the comparison of changes.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Thammasat University Research Fund. The authors declared no commercial or financial conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume water-based exercise is superior to land-based exercise for all COPD outcomes. The benefit was specific to endurance walk time and inspiratory muscle strength, while other measures like the 6-minute walk test showed no significant difference between groups.