Cardiac response to exercise: comparison of 3 ergometers.

In order to establish guidelines for clinical decision making based on modified stress testing of physically handicapped individuals, 6 nonhandicapped volunteers exercised on 3 different ergometers, and their cardiac responses were compared. The ergometers were an upright bicycle, a supine bicycle, and an upright arm crank. The parameters measured were heart rate, rate pressure product, and oxygen consumption. Results showed that myocardial oxygen requirements are greater for upper extremity than for lower extremity exercise; the difference becomes increasingly more significant as exercise intensity increases. Myocardial oxygen requirements for supine exercise are greater than for upright exercise at low exercise intensity but lower at higher exercise intensities. Clinical implications of these findings must be interpreted cautiously as older disabled subjects may have different physiologic responses depending on the nature of their disabilities.