A pilot study: Bed exercise with a modified bicycle “Pun Ngai” in healthy volunteers

Abstract

The aim of this cross-over design study was to assess the response of heart rate (HR), blood pressure, rating of perceived exertion, rating of perceived dyspnea and the opinion for using an equipment. Twenty-five healthy participants with two age-group, 18-39 years (n=10) and 40-60 years (n=15) were recruited to the study. They were randomly either perform graded cycle exercise or resting on the bed in which the washout period between the session was 1 day apart. At beginning, muscles around the lower back, buttock and posterior thigh were stretched. Then, the participants were asked to cycling or resting in bed at 30 degrees head upright position for 20 minutes. Next, for cycling, the exercise began with 3-min free load warm up with 20 rpm, then, performed 5-min incremental load in each step for three steps and finished with 2-min free load of cool down. The outcome parameters were assessed at baseline, before three steps of the speed was increased and after finish the experiment. After that, they were asked to complete the questionnaire. The results showed that, for cycling, HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) increased significantly (p<0.05) when compared with rest period. In contrast, other parameters did not change. Additionally, the opinion from questionnaire suggested that “Pun Ngai” should improve its general appearance. Based on result from this study, it can be concluded that bed exercise with “Pun Ngai” cycle can increase the cardiovascular function and no affects on dyspnea and fatigue.