Eligibility of COPD patients for physiotherapy based on a six minute walk test and treadmill test

Katarzyna Bogacz, Marek Woszczak, Jacek Łuniewski, Marcin Krajczy, Bartosz Pańczyszak, Jan Szczegielniak, Marek Kiljański

K. Bogacz, M. Woszczak, J. Łuniewski, M. Krajczy, B. Pańczyszak, J. Szczegielniak, M. Kiljański – Eligibility of COPD patients for physiotherapy based on a six minute walk test and treadmill test; Fizjoterapia Polska 2018; 18(1); 96-106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56984/8ZG0768F5

Abstract

Objective. The aim of the paper was to assess the results of physiotherapy of COPD patients whose elgibility for the relevant rehabilitation model was assessed with the help of the 6-MWT test and the treadmill test according to the modified Bruce protocol.
Materials and methods. 80 individuals suffering from COPD treated as in-patients at the MSWiA Specialist Hospital in Głuchołazy between May 2017 and September 2017 were examined. After a 3-week comprehensive physiotherapy, the exercise stress test, spirometry test and dyspnoea assessment on the modified 10-point Borg scale were repeated in both groups of COPD patients.
Results. Calculations were performed using the IBM SPSS software. In order to assess consistency between the distribution of the results with the normal distribution, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used. As the distribution differed from the normal distribution, nonparametric methods were used for further analysis. In order to assess the significance of differences between the two groups in terms of quantitative variables, Mann-Whitney tests were used, while Wilcoxon tests were used for dependent samples to assess the significance of changes over time in the same patients (bound pairs). The statistical significance threshold was set at p < 0.001.
Conclusions
1. A significant improvement was noticed in the level of exercise stress tolerance after physiotherapy both among patients assessed according to the modified Bruce test and patients assessed with the 6-minute walk test.
2. A significant improvement was shown in the values of spirometric indicators after physiotherapy both among patients assessed according to the modified Bruce test and patients assessed with the 6-minute walk test.
3. A significant decrease was shown in the level of dyspnoea after physiotherapy both among patients assessed according to the modified Bruce test and patients assessed with the 6-minute walk test.

Key words:

COPD, modified Bruce protocol, 6-MWT test, physiotherapy

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