International Journal of COPD (Mar 2019)

The six-minute stepper test is related to muscle strength but cannot substitute for the one repetition maximum to prescribe strength training in patients with COPD

  • Bonnevie T,
  • Allingham M,
  • Prieur G,
  • Combret Y,
  • Debeaumont D,
  • Patout M,
  • Cuvelier A,
  • Viacroze C,
  • Muir JF,
  • Medrinal C,
  • Gravier FE

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 767 – 774

Abstract

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Tristan Bonnevie,1,2 Mathilde Allingham,3 Guillaume Prieur,1,4 Yann Combret,5,6 David Debeaumont,7 Maxime Patout,1,8 Antoine Cuvelier,1,8 Catherine Viacroze,8 Jean-François Muir,1,2,8 Clement Medrinal,1,4 Francis-Edouard Gravier1,2 1Normandie University, UNIROUEN, UPRES EA 3830, Rouen University Hospital, Haute Normandie Research and Biomedical Innovation, Rouen, France; 2ADIR Association, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France; 3Rouen University Hospital, School of Physiotherapy, Rouen, France; 4Intensive Care Unit Department, Le Havre Hospital, Hôpital Jacques Monod, Montivilliers, France; 5Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research (IREC), Pole of Pulmonology, ORL and Dermatology, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 6Physiotherapy Department, Le Havre Hospital, Le Havre, France; 7Department of Respiratory and Exercise Physiology and CIC-CRB 1404, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France; 8Pulmonary, Thoracic Oncology and Respiratory Intensive Care Department, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France Purpose: There are many barriers to pulmonary rehabilitation, including a limited access to evaluation centers. To cope with these difficulties, field tests are often used to prescribe endurance training. As field tests are related to muscle strength, they could also be used to prescribe strength training and increase the access to pulmonary rehabilitation in rural area. However, their validity for this purpose has never been studied.Patients and methods: The relationship between the 6-minute stepper test (6MST), 6-minute walk test, maximal workload achieved during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (Wpeak), and one repetition maximum (1RM) was assessed in 35 patients with COPD through a retrospective chart review to derive predictive equation of the 1RM from these tests. The effectiveness of these equations to prescribe strength training at 70% of the 1RM was assessed in an independent cross-validation group of 34 patients with COPD.Results: There was a moderate relationship between the 6MST, Wpeak and the 1RM (r=0.44 and r=0.41, respectively, both P≤0.01). Whatever the test, the prescription of strength training using the estimated 1RM compared with the measured 1RM resulted in a mean absolute difference and a mean bias of about 30 kg.Conclusion: The use of the 6MST and Wpeak for the prescription of strength training would result in a clinically not acceptable error. Therefore, they should not be used as a substitute for the 1RM to prescribe strength training. Keywords: six-minute stepper test, strength training, COPD, pulmonary rehabilitation  

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