None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Currently, exercise guidelines for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) recommend 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise on most days; a recommendation that is consistent with that provided for the general population. In addition to the usual demands on a person’s time such as work, study and family, people with CF have a high daily treatment burden involving airway clearance, medical and nutritional treatment, which are can take up to 4 hours per day to be completed. Therefore, completing 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day can be difficult to achieve. A novel training approach, such as high intensity interval training (HIIT) may represent a more efficient option to increase exercise capacity. High intensity interval training has been demonstrated to improve exercise capacity in healthy individuals, as well as people with chronic respiratory disease. The main benefit of HIIT is the reduced time commitment, compared to other forms of exercise training. Currently, there are no guidelines for the use of HIIT in people with CF. The proposed PhD will, in people with CF, implement a HIIT program in a supervised setting over an 8 week period to investigate the effects of the program on exercise capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), exercise self-efficacy, feelings of anxiety, depression, enjoyment and muscle oxidative capacity. It will also report on: (i) the proportion of participants who develop post-exercise muscle soreness and the severity of these symptoms; (ii) the tolerance of the HIIT program; (iii) the cardiorespiratory and symptom responses to HIIT over the 8 week program and; (iv) the behaviour change techniques. We hypothesize that in people with CF, 8 weeks of supervised HIIT will change exercise capacity, HRQoL, exercise self-efficacy, enjoyment and muscle oxidative capacity over and above any change seen with usual care.
Interventions
High intensity interval training (HIIT): in addition to usual care, participants allocated to the experimental group will be asked to complete an 8 week cycling-based HIIT program. Each training session will involve a 2 minute ‘warm up’, followed by a 30 second ‘work’ phase and 30 second ‘rest’ period (low intensity cycling ~15W), repeated 6 times. The work to rest periods will be followed by a 2 minute ‘cool down’ period. Therefore, the total training time per session will be 10 minutes. Each s
High intensity interval training (HIIT): in addition to usual care, participants allocated to the experimental group will be asked to complete an 8 week cycling-based HIIT program. Each training session will involve a 2 minute ‘warm up’, followed by a 30 second ‘work’ phase and 30 second ‘rest’ period (low intensity cycling ~15W), repeated 6 times. The work to rest periods will be followed by a 2 minute ‘cool down’ period. Therefore, the total training time per session will be 10 minutes. Each session will be supervised by a physiotherapist who is trained in the management of people with CF. The training program will commence with a ‘lead in’ phase which will involve 2 sessions of HIIT in weeks 1 and 2. Thereafter, between weeks 3 and 8, HIIT will be undertaken 3 times a week (i.e. total 22 sessions over 8 weeks). The training intensity will be prescribed using measurements of maximum work rate (Wmax) achieved during the ramp-based cycle ergometry test completed during the baseline assessment period. Specifically, the Wmax 'work' phase goal will be 60% for the first training session and 80% by the 4th training session (i.e. the end of week 2). Thereafter, training intensity will be increased as rapidly as symptoms permit. All HIIT sessions will be conducted on the same model of stationary bike (Orbit Eco Generator Interval Bike OEB2002). Participants will be asked if they experience any post-exercise muscle soreness of the quadriceps femoris the next day following the first training session each week. Those who report experiencing post-exercise muscle soreness will be asked to rate its severity using a visual analogue scale. The tolerance (attendance of the session and completion of the sessions) of the HIIT sessions will be recorded throughout the 8 week period. At the beginning, mid-way through and at the end of the training period, participants will be asked to complete HIIT sessions in the same laboratory used to conduct the ramp-based cycle ergometry test. During these sessions, cardiorespiratory and symptom responses will be recorded. The HIIT sessions will be audio recorded for evaluation of fidelity if required and review of behaviour change techniques.
Sponsors
Institute for Respiratory Health - Conquer Cystic Fibrosis Research Program
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
15 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
People with CF aged 15 years or older and have a body mass index (BMI) > 16 kg/m2 will be eligible to participate.
Exclusion criteria
(i) A current or recent (within the previous 4 weeks) exacerbation of CF which required oral or intravenous antibiotics; (ii) a co-morbid condition that would impact on the ability to undertake a maximal incremental exercise capacity test; (iii) poorly controlled diabetes as deemed by their treating endocrinologist; (iv) a previous lung transplant or current listing for lung transplantation; (v) individuals who have consistently trained at a moderate intensity 2 or more times per week for the previous 3 months and; (vi) the inability to provide written informed consent due to a cognitive impairment or being unable to understand English.
Outcome results
None listed