Abstract
The purposes of this study were to assess the maximal exercise capacity and oxygen (O2) kinetics in patients with cerebrovascular disorder (CVD) who had received rehabilitation of recovery stage, and to elucidate the functional exercise performance in these patients.
Subjects consisted of 20 patients with CVD. They performed the exercise of 20 watt constant work rate for 3 min and the symptom-limited maximal exercise in a sitting position using an electrically braked bicycle ergometer, which could measure continuously expired gases including oxygen intake. Maximal work rate (max WR) and peak oxygen consumption (VO2) were measured during the graded maximal exercise. We instructed the patients to exercise in moderate intensity of aerobic exercise training program using the bicycle ergometer for 8 weeks in addition to ordinary rehabilitation by physical therapists.
A significant difference was seen in the peak VO2, max WR, τ and O2 deficit between the time of hospitalization and that after 8 weeks of physical therapy.
These results suggest that the exercise training of moderate intensity may improve the functional exercise capacity and produce the energy efficacy on VO2 kinetics in hemipareric patients with CVD. We concluded that O2 deficit and τ are useful for indices of exercise tolerance.
