Effects of Weight Training with VR on Pulmonary Function Exercise Capacity and Quality of Life in Out-Patients with Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disease becoming the third leading cause of death It is not only breathlessness but also poor exercise capacity; moreover patients of COPD nearly occur acute exacerbation (AECOPD) once per year which induces much worse exercise capacity functional capacity quality of life pulmonary function and higher hospital readmission rate There is a vicious circle for AECOPD patients due to their physical inactivity To ameliorate the vicious circle pulmonary rehabilitation is the solution to deal with AECOPD Pulmonary rehabilitation includes pharmacological therapies psychosocial support nutritional intervention education exercise training The main option of pulmonary rehabilitation is pharmacological therapies it can help to control the uncomfortable symptoms but it is hard to change physical inactivity and sedentary life; therefore we can add exercise training into pulmonary rehabilitation the major choice is aerobic exercise it indeed changes exercise capacity quality of life and alteration of sedentary life; however muscle strength of patients is hard to improve by aerobic training which is a chance to occur exacerbation and musculoskeletal weakness Moreover upper limbs are involved in activities of daily living the most it is seldom trained in pulmonary rehabilitation which is caused breathlessness and dyspnea easily Therefore we should give patients other training programs to ameliorate the lack of pharmacological therapies aerobic exercise and upper extremity training Although we know pulmonary rehabilitation can bring lots of benefits to AECOPD patients the referral and adherence rate of exercise training in pulmonary rehabilitation is low the reasons make this problem is that lack of motivation and benefits; therefore we need to find a solution to deal with the low rate of referral and adherence Methods： We divided participants into two groups control group followed usual pulmonary rehabilitation education and pharmacological therapies and taught them some limbs exercise using social application to contact and suggestion giving as supervision Intervention group had not only usual pulmonary rehabilitation but also upper extremity weight training with virtual reality Two groups had 24 sessions of contacts and training programs and 4 times of assessments which were used to analysis participants muscle strength oxygen uptake pulmonary function and quality of life Pre-test was test before the beginning of contacts or training and considered as the basis of their suggestions and training protocols; mid-test was executed after 12 sessions of contacts or training as the foundation of the last 12 sessions; post-test was implemented after finish of 24 sessions as the investigations of 24 sessions; follow-up-test was 1 month after finishing 24 sessions as results of the maintenance of without supervised exercise Results of four times assessments was told to participants after finishing each measurement and compared with previous assessments which was used to make participants realize their changes after pulmonary rehabilitation Results： After training programs intervention group showed the expected significant difference results in 4 times assessments including muscle strength delta value of maximal and resting oxygen uptake quality of life adherence rate of exercise and hospitalization readmission rate Supervised control group had improved significantly in six minutes walking test Conclusion： Exercise programs of upper extremity weight training with virtual reality had a significant improvement which represented this training programs can revise the problems of pharmacological therapies and aerobic exercise becoming another option of pulmonary rehabilitation

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ching-Hsia Hung (Supervisor)