Short-term physical training in bronchial asthma

The effect of two types of physical training on patients with perennial asthma were compared in a blind, controlled, randomized study. Eleven of 27 adults with asthma performed a physical training programme which did not change their oxygen consumption (control group). The remaining 16 asthmatics performed a physical training programme which improved their maximal oxygen consumption (training group). Both of the training programmes were performed for 1 hour, twice a week during a period of 2 months. No complications were reported during the performance of the training programmes. The doses of all medicines apart from β₂-agonist aerosol were unchanged during the training period. The patients inhaled β₂-agonist aerosol if their peak expiratory flow (PEF) was less than 60% of their maximal PEF. The training group decreased their use of aerosol from an average of 4.94 puffs per day to 3.41 puffs per day (P < 0.05). The control group did not change their use of β₂-agonist aerosol significantly. It is concluded that physical exercise which improves the maximal oxygen consumption decreases the use of β₂-agonist spray and that heavy exercise is well tolerated by asthmatics.