| Chest wall restriction, whether caused by disease or mechanical contraints such as protective outerwear, can cause severe decrements in pulmonary function and exercise capacity; however, thus far the study of the energy cost associated with mechanical chest restriction has been purely qualitative. The purpose of this experiment was to measure the energy cost of varied levels of external chest wall restriction. Oxygen uptake and electromyogram (EMG) measurements were recorded during chest restriction in 10 healthy males. Subjects rested for 9 minutes before hyperventilating for 6 minutes. Subjects breathed at 30, 60, and 90 liters ;Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures revealed that chest wall loading significantly increased VO... |
