ERGOSPIROMETRY AND ITS HISTORY

Ergospirometry is a diagnostic procedure to continuously measure respi ration and gas metabolism during ergometer exercise. It enables judgem ent of function and performance capacity of the cardiopulmonary system and metabolism. Ergospirometry is made up of the 2 components spirome try and ergometry. The first attempts to measure human gas metabolism while performing quantified physical work can be traced back to the ye ar 1790. The development of procedures to measure gas metabolism and r espiration as well as the construction of ergometers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are described. Ergospirometry and routinely p erformed clinical performance diagnosis were introduced in 1929, but i t was not until the 1950s when the first ergospirometry apparatus whic h met all scientific requirements was developed. The parameters used a nd the physiological and pathophysiological findings by ergospirometry are given in an historical frame. Numerous medical fields have profit ed from the technique of ergospirometry, for example: cardiology, pneu mology, sports medicine, exercise physiology, biochemistry, clinical p harmacology, su orthopaedics, paediatrics and gerontology, besides suc h global disciplines as preventive medicine, exercise therapy and reha bilitative medicine.