Pre-discharge exercise testing involving weight carrying after myocardial infarction.

Exercise testing involving weight carrying was undertaken on 36 consecutive men under the age of 70 years at a mean of 12.2 days after myocardial infarction before their discharge from hospital. The test consisted of four stages: walking for 3 minutes at 5.3 km/h, carrying a 13.6 kg weight for 3 min at a speed of 4.4 km/h, holding a 22.7 kg weight with the arm flexed for 1 min and carrying the 22.7 kg weight for 1 min at a speed of 2.6 km/h. Twenty-four (66 percent) men completed all four stages during which mean maximal heart rate and systolic blood pressure were 143/min and 166 mmHg respectively. No test was discontinued because of arrhythmias and complex ventricular arrhythmias occurred in only one man. On subsequent maximal treadmill testing on 32 of these subjects at a mean of 7.2 weeks post-infarction, significantly more of those completing the pre-discharge test achieved an average work capacity for their age. As a result of this study, we believe that exercise testing of this type involving weight carrying can be helpful in the management of patients convalescing after myocardial infarction.