Impact of Resisted Exercise on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Elderly Patients in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia

Some studies have evaluated the effect of resisted exercise on COPD in adult but there is limited data on the effectiveness of resistance exercise on COPD in elderly patients. The effect of three months resisted exercise training on pulmonary functions for COPD in elderly patients has been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the influences of resisted exercise on COPD in elderly patients at Alkharj, Saudi Arabia. Forty obese elderly patients with moderate COPD with age of 60-70 years were selected from the patients living in Alkharj, KSA for this study. Their body mass index (BMI) ranged from 30 to >= 40 kg/m(2). They were randomly divided into two groups, each group consisted of 20 patients, group A received a program of resisted exercise(RE 3 times/week) with breathing exercise and group B received only breathing exercise without any program of resisted exercise. The pulmonary functions changes (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC%, PEF, FEF25-75% and MVV) were measured at the beginning of the study and after twelve weeks. Showed that resisted exercise had greater improvement in FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC%, PEF, FEF25-75% and MVV were respectively (+ 0.1, + 0.19, + 4.2, + 0.44, + 0.09 and + 3.8) when compared to the second group, little changes were respectively (+ 0.04, + 0.04, + 0.5, + 0.45, +. 03 and + 1.2). It was concluded that a program of resisted exercise showed significant improvement in pulmonary functions in elderly patients with COPD in a short term (up to twelve weeks).