The cycloergometer as a system for studying exercise-induced asthma.

Although bicycle exercise induces less asthma than does treadmill running, the cycloergometer offers definite advantages for quantitative testing of bronchospastic response, extensive knowldge of normal responses, lack of training artifact, and ease of physiologic monitoring. Using maximal heart rate to tailor the exercise load to a given subject, reliable responses can be obtained from subjects as young as 7 years old. To obtain such results, diurnal variations in response to exercise, resting bronchial tone, and previous medication must be controlled, and pulmonary function measurements must be taken frequently after exercise.