Figures & data
Figure 1 Reproducibility of six-minute walking tests in 12 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease over three consecutive days. Values are means with standard error bars. Comparing the 1st and 2nd attempts, walking distance increased by 8%. Comparing the 1st and 3rd attempts, walking distance increased by 11%.
Table 1 Resistance of the adaptors (Portex Ltd) used for inspiratory muscle training
Table 2 Pulmonary function in the two groups
Table 3 Distance walked (WD6), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and breathlessness scores for the six-minute walking tests
Figure 2 Six-minute walking distances before, during and after eight weeks of general physical training (λ– λ, n = 7) or respiratory muscle training (μ– μ, n = 9). Mean values are shown with standard error bars. An increase of 6.9% occurred after general physical training (n = 7) and an increase of 4.8% followed respiratory muscle training (n = 9).
Table 4 Selected data from incremental exercise tests
Figure 3 Visual analogue scores for breathlessness on exercise before, during and after eight weeks of general physical training (λ– λ walking, μ– μ cycling, n = 7) or respiratory muscle training (▴-- ▴ walking, δ-- δ; cycling, n = 9).
