ABSTRACT
Asthma exemplifies a major medical concern
and is a considerable cause of morbidity and
mortality in Western society. Controversy still
exists regarding the most effective mode and
intensity of exercise training for asthmatics.
Thus, the purpose of the study was to
determine whether walking or jogging at 60%
of age-predicted heart rate maximum can
increase effort-dependent pulmonary function
parameters in moderate, persistent asthmatics.
Forty-four sedentary asthmatics were
randomly assigned to either a non-exercising
control (NE) group (n = 22) or an eight-week
moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (AE)
group (n = 22). Results indicated that the
subjects in the AE training group significantly
(p = 0.05) increased their forced vital capacity
(FVC), forced expiratory volume in one
second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF),
maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) and
inspiratory vital capacity (IVC). The NE group
did not exhibit any significant changes in any
of the measured variables. Therefore, walking
or jogging at 60% heart rate maximum for 30
minutes three times a week for eight weeks
can effectively improve the effort-dependent
pulmonary parameters in moderate, persistent
asthmatics. This represents a strong argument
to support the inclusion of this mode of
aerobic training in the treatment of moderate,
persistent asthma due to its effectiveness,
inexpensiveness and lowrisk.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001698 |
| Date | 04 March 2009 |
| Creators | Shaw, I, Loots, JM, Lategan, L, Shaw, BS |
| Publisher | African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance |
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