A report issued in the latest edition of the medical journal Chest has claimed exercising one leg at a time can improve aerobic capacity more than two legged exercises, for those suffering with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The concept is that one legged excercising places the same metabolic demands on the taergeted muscles, but the stress on the lungs is reduced. In the trial the patient would train one leg for 15 minutes and then switch to the other for another 15 minutes. This was then compared to a patient training both legs together for 30 minutes.

The researchers found that the improvement in peak oxygen uptake was significantly higher in the one-legged training group than in the two-legged group. The one-legged group also had a significantly greater increase in peak ventilation and lower submaximal heart rate than the two-legged group.

Additional trials will be neccessary to evaluate if this method is ready to be recommended to COPD patients, and Dr Roger Goldstein who is leading the study does plan to carry out this further study.

Source : Reuters Online
Date : 26/2/2008

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