Comparison of arm versus leg work in induction of acute episodes of asthma

Abstract

The severity of exercise-induced asthma varies with the type of exercise performed. To determine whether such variation could be attributed to the use of different muscle groups, arms were exercised separately from legs using a bicycle ergometer. First, arms were exercised to exhaustion, then legs were exercised at the same load for the same duration. Arm work resulted in greater ventilation, heart rate, Ht concentration and airway obstruction than did leg work. Later, legs were exercised to exhaustion using a load more than twice that of the arm work. Both the exhausting leg work and exhausting arm work resulted in significant bronchospasm and acidosis, but the nonexhausting leg work did not. In arm and/or leg exercise, the relationship of work load to muscle mass is apparently a determinant of airway obstruction.