Arena S, Colombe C, Land M, Truesdell S, Szymanski, C; Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI. Arena800@comcast.net.

PURPOSE. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the difference in perceived quality of life and/or functional ability for patients using traditional warm-up protocol versus an exercise ball warm-up protocol during an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program. SUBJECTS. Twenty subjects with diagnosis of moderate to severe pulmonary disease (11 women, 9 men), with a mean age of 62 years, participated. METHODS AND MATERIALS. Retrospective data of 10 subjects using a warm-up program of nine exercises using either a chair or wall as support (traditional warm-up protocol) was compared to that of 10 subjects assigned to a newly implemented warm-up protocol with the same number of exercises and targeting the same muscle groups, but using an exercise ball as support (exercise ball warm-up protocol). Exercise Balls were fitted per Ball Dynamics International Criteria. Both groups participated in pulmonary rehabilitation for a minimum of 18 visits (3 times week for 6 weeks). The warm-up portion of the rehabilitation was the only portion of the program changed. ANALYSES: A pretest posttest comparison group design was utilized to compare data collected from each of the three established outcome measures: (1) Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-Item Questionnaire (SF-36), (2) Six Minute Walking Test, and (3) Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRDQ). To determine if there was a significant difference in outcome measures between groups, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures models were run for each outcome measure. Each domain of the SF-36 and CDRQ as well as the distance achieved in the six minute walking test was individually analyzed. RESULTS: No significant group effects were seen. Dyspnea (p = .066), Emotional function (p = .057), Feeling of mastery over disease (p = .065), Physical functioning (p = .082), and Role emotion (p = .075) were marginally significant and suggest the study group pre and post measures for these scales were higher than the control group measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results may indicate the use of the exercise ball is a viable treatment option in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programs. Further studies with larger sample sizes and more outcome measures may demonstrate more positive benefits. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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