Also, they were required to be able to communicate in English and to be receiving a daily physiotherapy exercise program as part of routine inpatient management. Patients were excluded if they had a cardiovascular condition prohibiting participation in an exercise program, a systemic disease affecting muscles or joints (eg, acute arthritis), recent surgery, or acute musculoskeletal pain requiring physiotherapy intervention. Demographic and clinical information selleck chemical collected included age, gender, and lung function. The gaming console used for the experimental

intervention was the Nintendo-WiiTMa. The intervention incorporated interval training using the EA Sports WiiActiveTMb program and involved an individualised program comprising games and activities such as boxing, running/track exercises, and dancing tailored to each participant’s preferences, impairments, and activity limitations. The control intervention consisted of moderate intensity interval training using a treadmill or cycle ergometer, depending on the participant’s preference, and again tailored to each participant’s impairments and activity limitations. For both interventions,

instructions were provided to participants to exercise at an intensity that resulted in some breathlessness but still allowed speech, aiming for a Borg scale score between 3 and 5. Each intervention was supervised by the same physiotherapist. Prior to each below exercise intervention, participants sat quietly in a chair selleck compound for 10 minutes before recording resting measures. Each exercise intervention comprised 15 minutes of exercise, including warm up and excluding rest periods and cool down. The warm up and cool down consisted of lower intensity exercise relevant to each intervention, eg, walking

or slow pedaling and stretching. Cardiovascular demand of the two exercise interventions was measured using heart rate and oxygen saturation recorded continuously via a forehead probe with a pulse oximeterc. Participant perception of the cardiovascular demand of each exercise intervention was measured using the modified Borg dyspnoea scale (Mahler et al 2001) and Rating of Perceived Exertion scale (6 to 20) (Borg 1982) to indicate breathlessness and exercise intensity respectively. Energy expenditure during the exercise was measured using a SenseWear Pro activity monitord. The SenseWear Pro activity monitor, worn on the right upper arm, measures skin temperature, galvanic skin response, heat flux, and motion via a 2-axis accelerometer, calculating energy expenditure in metabolic equivalents (MET) during the recorded movement (Jakicic et al 2004).