Exercise Recommendations for Chronic Diseases

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

The American Thoracic Society recommends a minimum of 20 sessions of exercise training, at least three times per week, to achieve physiologic benefits in patients with COPD 1
The European Respiratory Society suggests that both endurance and strength training should be utilized, as the combination produces multiple beneficial effects in patients with COPD 1, 2
High-intensity exercise produces greater physiologic benefit and should be encouraged when tolerable in patients with COPD 1
Interval training is associated with fewer symptoms of dyspnea during exercise and fewer unintended breaks in patients with very severe COPD 2, 3, 4
The European Respiratory Society recommends that endurance training improves peripheral muscle function in patients with COPD 2, 3, 4
Training reduces the proportion of anaerobic fast-twitch (type IIb) muscle fibers, yielding a higher percentage of aerobic slow-twitch (type I) muscle fibers in patients with COPD 2, 3

The European Society of Cardiology recommends exercise training for stable chronic heart failure patients in NYHA class II or III, but only after careful cardiac evaluation 5, 6, 7
All patients must have stable chronic heart failure and be in NYHA class II or III to be eligible for exercise training 5, 6
The European Society of Cardiology suggests that cycle ergometer training is the most favorable type of aerobic exercise for chronic heart failure patients 5, 7
Interval training produces more pronounced effects on exercise capacity than steady-state training, particularly in patients with very low baseline aerobic capacity 7
Exercise training reduces sympathetic and renin-angiotensin system activity in patients with heart failure 8
The European Society of Cardiology recommends that exercise training improves endothelium dysfunction and reduces peripheral vascular resistance in patients with heart failure 8