Neural Ventilatory Drive during Arm and Leg Exercise

Three healthy subjects performed 85 and 68 transients from rest to work with arms and legs respectively. The transient ventilatory responses were greater during arm work than during leg work. Estimated from the magnitude of these responses, the neural ventilatory stimulus was responsible for an equal percentage of the steady state exercise hyperpnoea in the two types of work. The percentage declined as load increased. It was concluded that the difference in the steady state ventilatory response to the two types of exercise may partly be explained by a stronger neural stimulus during arm work.