Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – A Retrospective Study on the Impact of Exercise Training

Introduction: Exercise training (ET) promotes improvements in the functional capacity performance of individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) (Gephine et al., 2021). Gains in gait are related to quadriceps (QT) muscle strength (MS) (Pancera, S., et al., 2022) and dynamic balance (Mesquita et al., 2016). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the impact of an ET program on quadriceps muscle strength (1RM), dynamic balance (TUG), and functional walking capacity (6MWT), and their correlation, in a convenience sample (n=11) of individuals with stable COPD. The comparative assessment (T0-T1) included only patients who completed the protocol without clinical complications. Statistical analysis used the Student’s t-test for paired samples and the Pearson Coefficient to correlate the gains obtained, with significance set at p<0.05. Results: The sample (n=11) revealed statistically significant improvements in all parameters. A clinically relevant gain in the 6MWT (+79.45m) is highlighted. Statistically, a moderate to strong correlation was found between MS gain and improvement in the TUG (r=-0.67) and between the 6MWT and TUG (r=0.70). Conclusions: The intervention resulted in statistically significant improvements in all variables and a clinically significant improvement in 6MWT. A moderate to strong relationship was observed between MS and TUG, and between the TUG and 6MWT values.