DO a response to this paper in 100 words.

100 words in length and supported by one scholarly source. Assume you are currently training your peers in the administration of exercise testing. In your first peer reply, explain one absolute indication to terminate testing. In your second peer reply, focus on a relative indication to abort testing.

Clinical exercise testing can be used to assess a patient’s ability to tolerate varying intensities of aerobic exercise. There are several purposes for which these tests are conducted, two of them being diagnostic and prognostic.

Diagnostic testing is used to identify abnormal physiologic responses to exercise. Through this type of exercise testing, researchers can determine the probability of cardiovascular disease and how it is influenced by sex, age, and symptomatology. “It is widely believed the diagnostic GXT has the greatest use in patients with an intermediate pretest probability of angiographically significant CVD” (American College of Sports Medicine; 2014). Patients with the highest probability of disease are tested for signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease so that they can be treated sooner, reducing cost, resources, and risk of further treatment.

            Prognostic testing is used to evaluate the severity of CVD among individuals with the known disease or those showing signs and symptoms. By performing exercise testing, healthcare professionals can determine the likelihood of recovery or worsening of the illness.

            One of the most common exercise testing modes is the cycle ergometer. This modality is popular among most European countries, because it is less expensive and requires less space than a treadmill. Cycle ergometers prove to be an appropriate alternative to treadmill testing in individuals with obesity, and orthopedic, peripheral vascular, and/or neurologic limitations. Cycle ergometers also yield better results with ECG recordings and blood pressure measurements, due to there being less movement of the patient’s arms and thorax during exercise.

            Several exercise protocols can be used to gather results. The most common is the Bruce treadmill test. This protocol “employs relatively large incremental workload adjustments (i.e., 2-3 METs per stage) every 3 min” (American College of Sports Medicine; 2014). However, as a result of this type of test, physiologic changes are less significant and exercise capacity can be easily overestimated.

            With individualized protocols, like the Ball State University/Bruce ramp test, adjustments to the exercise and increases in intensity are made based on the clients. These tests have many advantages over those that do not individualize for the client including: absence of unequal changes in workload; consistent increase in hemodynamic and physiologic responses; and more accurate estimates of exercise capacity and ventilator threshold. Individualizing tests yields greater results by improving patient tolerance and test quality.

References

American College of Sports Medicine. (2014). ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (9th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins