Abstract
Objective
To assess the additional effect of a home-based neuromuscular electrical stimulation
(NMES) program as an add-on to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), on functional capacity
in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Design
Single-blind, multicenter randomized trial.
Setting
Three PR centers.
Participants
Subjects with severe to very severe COPD (N=73; median forced expiratory volume in
1 second, 1L (25th–75th percentile, 0.8–1.4L) referred for PR. Twenty-two subjects
discontinued the study, but only 1 dropout was related to the intervention (leg discomfort).
Intervention
Subjects were randomly assigned to either PR plus quadricipital home-based NMES (35Hz,
30min, 5 time per week) or PR without NMES for 8 weeks.
Main Outcome Measure
The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) was used to assess functional capacity.
Results
Eighty-two percent of the scheduled NMES sessions were performed. In the whole sample,
there were significant increases in the distance walked during the 6MWT (P<.01), peak oxygen consumption (P=.02), maximal workload (P<.01), modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale (P<.01), and Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire total score (P=.01). There was no significant difference in the magnitude of change for any outcome
between groups.
Conclusions
Home-based NMES as an add-on to PR did not result in further improvements in subjects
with severe to very severe COPD; moreover, it may have been a burden for some patients.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
BMI (body mass index), COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), CPET (cardiopulmonary exercise testing), NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation), PR (pulmonary rehabilitation), QoL (quality of life), SGRQ (Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire), 6MWT (6-minute walk test), V˙o2 (oxygen consumption), Vo2peak (peak oxygen consumption)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 17, 2018
Footnotes
Supported by the French “Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé.” It was not involved in the design of the study, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; and in the writing of the manuscript.
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT02171377.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
