Physiological screening with COSMED Quark CPET at Beaumont Cardiovascular Performance Clinic (Michigan)

Dr. Barry A. Franklin, PhD, Director of Preventive Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation at Beaumont Health (Michigan), talks about cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) as an important tool to evaluate exercise capacity and prevent cardiac risks.

The Cardiovascular Performance Clinic at Beaumont offers comprehensive counseling and physiologic screening to amateur and professional athletes, recreational endurance exercisers and highly active individuals.

“The biggest risk is with people who have been inactive for years, such as the person who may have been a track athlete 40 years earlier and wants to start up again, running around the block,” Franklin said. “A major take home message is that anybody middle aged or older should start with a walking program and should not start with running. But most can start a walking program without a stress test.”

If you participate in regular physical activity or are starting a high-volume and/or high-intensity training regimen, a CPET test can help to better know about your cardiovascular health to maximize benefits and reduce risks.

It provides assessment of the integrative exercise responses involving the pulmonary, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle systems, which are not adequately reflected through the measurement of individual organ system function.

CPET is being used increasingly in a wide spectrum of clinical applications for evaluation of undiagnosed exercise intolerance and for objective determination of functional capacity and impairment.

Discover more about COSMED Quark CPET

[ Video credits: Beaumont Health Official YouTube Page ]