Lower limb specific training in patients with COPD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility and acceptability of delivering a home based lower limb specific resistance training (LLSRT) programme to improve quadriceps strength in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
IRAS ID
157875
Contact name
Hannah Dobson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common lung diseases and a major cause of chronic illness, disability and death worldwide. Major symptoms of COPD are breathlessness, particularly on exertion, and poor exercise tolerance. Leg weakness is common in COPD and directly relates to walking ability and prognosis. There is no known cure for COPD, but exercise classes (pulmonary rehabilitation) improves health related quality of life and symptom burden in patients with COPD. Recently our research group have shown that patients that took part in pulmonary rehabilitation following a chest infection requiring admission to hospital, were less likely to be readmitted to hospital compared to those that did not. Also, irrespective of their lung disease severity, the patients that had the greatest gains in their leg strength were least likely to have a recurrent chest infection, highlighting the impact of exercise rehabilitation in patients with COPD. Based on these data we propose that exercises specifically focused on strengthening the leg musculature may have greater benefit in terms of gains in exercise performance and functional capacity in patients with COPD compared to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to investigate the acceptability and effectiveness of a physiotherapy supervised, home based, leg strengthening exercise for patients with COPD. If successful these data will help us develop a larger study to compare this approach to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1817
Date of REC Opinion
13 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion