EDITORIALS

Life in slow motion: quantifying physical activity in COPD

Mike Morgan

Correspondence to:
Dr M D L Morgan, Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester LE3 9QP; mike.morgan@uhl-tr.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

We probably all acknowledge that regular spontaneous physical activity plays a large role in maintaining health and physical fitness. In health, the promotion of regular physical activity has been a feature of active living since at least the time of Ancient Greece. In more modern times we have continued this tradition by encouraging our children to play sport and sustaining recreational physical activity through to old age.

Although the health benefits of maintaining spontaneous physical activity in otherwise healthy people are evident, it is only in more recent times that we have realised its importance in people with chronic disease. In people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the reduction of physical activity is both a consequence and a symptom. Advancing airway obstruction leads to breathlessness that impedes activities of daily living and may naturally be compounded by the physical deconditioning induced by inactivity. We now understand that reduced physical . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Langer, D, Gosselink, R, Sena, R, Burtin, C, Decramer, M, Troosters, T (2009). Validation of two activity monitors in patients with COPD. Thorax 64: 641-642 [Full Text]  
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