Effect of Aerobic Exercise Training on Pulmonary Function and Tolerance of Activity in Asthmatic Patients

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of a course of aerobicexercise on pulmonary function and tolerance of activity in asthmatic patients.among the asthmatic patients, 36 patients (m= 16, f= 20) were chosen after clinicalexaminations, pulmonary function test, skin prick test (spt) for aeroallergen and a sixminute walk test (6mwt) on their own free will. a patient was said to have exerciseinduced asthma (eia) when he/she fulfilled the following criteria; (1) fev1 < 80%,(2) 12% increase or more in fev1 or pef after short-acting ß2 agonist prescription and(3) 15% decrease in fev1 or pef after 6mwt with 70% or 80% of maximum heartrate. the patients were randomly put into two groups of case (m=8, f=10, meanage=27) and control (m=8, f=10, mean age=29). case group participated in eightweekaerobic exercise plan, while control group had no plan of exercise. pulmonaryfunction tests were done before and after the course of exercise.there were significant changes in fev1, fvc, pef, fef25-75%, mvv, rf and6mwt between asthmatic patients of the two groups (p≤0.05), but fev1/fvc showedno significant change. mean of changes in fev1, fvc, pef, fef25-75%, mvv, rf and6mwt were –25.56, -17.19, 32.09, -27.93, -22.18, 5.63 and –307.5 in case grouprespectively while they were 6.2, 4.67, 1.96, 6.65, 15.56,-2.87 and 18.78 in the controlgroup.this study shows that aerobic exercises in asthmatic patients lead to animprovement in pulmonary functions. aerobic exercise rehabilitation can be acomplement to medical treatment of asthma