Exercise Testing

The most common reason is that it helps to show your medical team how efficiently your heart is able to pump blood to your muscles and therefore indicates how well your heart is working.

For most people the recommendation will be to do an exercise test every few years as part of monitoring your overall heart health. In some cases it can be an important part of the decision making process when people are getting close to needing surgery or other procedures.

Less commonly an exercise test may be recommended to assess for possible coronary artery disease or to look for abnormal heart rhythms when you exercise.

The test will be done at the hospital and will be supervised by a physiologist and a doctor.

There are two types of exercise test that are used in Cardiology. The first is a standard exercise test where you walk or run on the treadmill and your ECG is monitored. The treadmill starts off very slow and flat, and gradually gets steeper and faster every 3 minutes.

The second is called a cardio-pulmonary exercise test. This also involves walking or running on the treadmill or riding on a stationary exercise bike, but as well as monitoring your ECG, you also breathe in and out through a mask which is connected to a machine that can measure oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air you breathe. This allows measurement of how much oxygen your muscles are extracting, which in turn indicates how much blood your heart is delivering to your muscles.

The cardio-pulmonary exercise test is usually preferred because of the extra information that it provides, but this type of test is not available everywhere.

With both types of test you can stop the test any time you feel that you are unable to go any further or if you feel unwell. It is good to try to go for as long as you can, but you won’t be made to go for longer than you feel comfortable.

The test is not intended to be a test of your fitness, but rather an indicator of how your heart is doing. Don’t worry if you think that you won’t be able to exercise for very long, the test will still give useful information.

The risk of major complications is very low, it’s really no more than the risk of exercising in general.

Your ECG will be monitored carefully during the exercise test and the test will be stopped if there are any concerning signs. It may also be stopped if you get symptoms like chest pain, major breathlessness or light headedness.

It’s best to wear comfortable clothing and shoes that are suitable for walking / running on the treadmill. It’s also best to avoid having a full stomach when you come for the test.

Sometimes you may need to stop some of your medicines before the test – your medical team will tell you if this is the case.