Abstract
The hospital of the current study holds a flying disc （FD） game twice annually to improve the physical activity of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD）. During the game, the patients throw the FD 10 times according to their own timing and are encouraged to rest when they complain of increased respiratory rate or dyspnea. Such games for COPD patients are conducted in several places throughout Japan. However, physical findings （e.g., oxygen saturation via pulse oximetry ［SpO2］） are usually not measured during the game. This study aims to measure physical findings before, during, and after the game to evaluate the degree of exercise load and examine whether the FD game can be safely held. This study enrolled seven patients with COPD. The FD game was held in November 2017 and SpO2 was monitored before, during, and after the game. Breathlessness and a feeling of fatigue were evaluated with the modified Borg scale before and after the game. The results were compared with those of the 6-min walk test performed during an outpatient visit before or after the day of the game. SpO2 was always ＞90％ in five patients, but it was transiently decreased to ＜90％ during the FD game in two patients. The Borg scale scores were always ＜5. In all patients, the minimum SpO2 during the FD game was greater than that obtained with the 6-min walk test. The results of the current study suggest that the FD game allows hypoxemia to be quickly detected and can be held safely if conducted according to the patients’ timing while the SpO2 is continuously measured. Thus, the FD game is useful to increase the physical activity of COPD patients.
