Rehabilitation of Patients With COPD Using Electrical Muscle Stimulation

The two hypotheses to be tested in this study are that: 1. The administration of transcutaneous electrical muscle stimulation (TCEMS) after completion of conventional exercise training in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) will result in further improvements in exercise tolerance, functional status and symptoms of patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) above those achieved in PR alone. 2. TCEMS can improve exercise tolerance, functional status and symptoms even among COPD patients who fail to make gains in exercise tolerance by participating in conventional PR due to their debilitation and/or marked cardio-respiratory impairment.