Effects of high intensity aerobic exercise on treadmill on maximum-expiratory lung capacity of elderly women.
Joonsung Park, Dongwook Han
PMID 28878482WHAT IT FOUND
In 22 elderly women, 12 weeks of treadmill aerobic exercise at 70% maximum heart rate significantly increased FVC from 2.1 to 2.3 liters and FEV1 from 1.7 to 1.8 liters; other airflow measures did not change significantly.
Key findings
01FVC increased significantly from 2.1 to 2.3 liters after the exercise program.
02FEV1 increased significantly from 1.7 to 1.8 liters after the exercise program.
03FEV1/FVC and maximal expiratory flow measures did not change significantly.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 22 elderly women were included, and they were selected from welfare-center programs in one city. No control group, randomization, or blinding was reported, so it is not possible to know whether the changes would have occurred without the exercise. Participants were excluded if they had musculoskeletal disease, recent regular exercise, cardiovascular disease, or psychotic illness, so the results may not apply to people with those conditions. The paper does not state which pulmonary measure was the primary outcome, so the positive results for FVC and FEV1 are not enough to establish a clear primary benefit.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that high-intensity treadmill exercise will improve lung function in every older adult. The study included only 22 elderly women, had no control group, and several lung-flow measures did not change significantly.