Researchers at the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital in Hines, Illinois, are working with a computer game they hope will encourage patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to get the much-needed exercise that makes breathing easier and more efficient.

One of the most distressing symptoms of COPD is the inability to fully expel air from the lungs, leading to a condition known as dynamic hyperinflation.  Dynamic hyperinflation happens when air is trapped in the lungs, diminishing the efficiency of each breath.  One of the most effective means of combating this condition is exercise but COPD patients typically shun exercise because of the breathing difficulties it generates.

According to Eileen G. Collins, PhD, lead researcher for the study, the reasoning behind the computer game is to make exercise enticing enough to generate interest and to provide visible, immediate feedback of the individual patient’s breathing function during a period of exercise.

The game researchers devised involved ventilation feedback (VF), which meant hooking up the study participant to a computerized monitor that presented immediate feedback, in real time, of the participant’s breathing function.  This form of biofeedback was combined with individualized goals, which were graphically displayed on screen as the participant exercised.

The research team worked with 64 COPD patients divided into three randomly selected groups.  One group was assigned exercise alone, one was to do exercise plus VF, and the third was to do VF only.

The group assigned to exercise plus VF fared the best.  They enjoyed significant improvement in duration of exercise and experienced less exercise-induced hyperinflation than the participants in the other two groups.  The least improvement proved to be the group assigned VF only.

The level of improvement in exercise tolerance between the exercise-only group and exercise-plus-VF group was considered statistically insignificant but researchers attribute this to many underlying factors that may have influenced the outcome.  They point to a strong trend toward improved tolerance in the exercise-plus-VF group, nevertheless.

Collins and her research team express the possibility of computer games as a part of daily living to improve the quality of life for COPD patients.  They also plan to conduct further studies into using computerized feedback with other methods unique to pulmonary rehabilitation.

The April 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society, carries the full details of this study.