Exercise Physiology Lab

Our Exercise Tolerance Test if often used by employers, insurance companies and GP’s. It is used to check for any underlying cardiac disease and cardiovascular capacity.

Measurements are taken by a master’s qualified Exercise Physiologist with 38 years experience. These include:

• Height and Weight
• Lung Function (spirometry) using ATS international standards (includes up to 8 trials, and manual interpretation). We assess expiration, lung volume and inspiration.
• Resting ECG
• Exercise 12 Lead ECG Test with Blood Pressure Monitoring, Gas Analysis Monitoring to determine accurate Cardiovascular Fitness or VO2max (results have a 3% margin of error with gas analysis compared to estimations without gas analysis which have a 10-20% margin of error)
• Cardiologist report on ECG results
• Extra cardiac risk blood markers can be added. See our blog for options…..https://bodylab.co.nz/blog/monitor-your-own-risk-cardiac-stroke/

Cost $556.00 (excl GST)

Resting Metabolism or Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is the minimum amount of calories a person requires without voluntary movement.

Feeding status and the amount of fat-free weight (ie. muscle) have the greatest impact on a person’s metabolism. This is why exercise becomes so important in weight loss programmes as it helps to develop muscle and promote an optimum metabolism. Under-eating on the other hand will reduce a person’s metabolism as this is the body’s way of protecting itself from wasting away.

If weight loss has been an issue for you then it will be worthwhile finding out your resting metabolism. This can then be monitored at different intervals to check that your eating and exercise regime is working. The advantage of testing with our technology is finding out how much fuel comes from carbohydrate and how much from fat.

The process takes about one hour. The first 20-30 minutes is a rest period prior to placing on the face mask. You then wear the mask for a further 20-30 minutes. Our goal is to find a 5-15 minute period when you are absolutely relaxed without movements or physical or mental distress.

Preparation

There are some pretesting requirements regarding meals and beverages.

These are as follows:

• Light Meals (< 500 kcals) – 4 hr fast
• Medium/Heavy Meals (>500 kcals) – 8 hr fast
• Caffeine Beverages – 8-12 hr fast
• Non caffeine beverages (ie. milk, meal substitute shakes)
• Nicotine Use – 8-12 hr fast
• Light to moderate exercise – Abstain 18-24 hr
• Intense exercise – Abstain 48hr
• Restful sleep requirements – 8-12hr

Cost – $145.00 (incl GST)

BodyLab offers a Bike-Fit for Injury Prevention service to help the high proportion of cyclists (85 percent) who can report on a history of some type of common cycling overuse injury eg. knee, neck shoulder, lower back, hamstring, hip flexor.

The largest forces in cycling act on the knees. So it is not surprising that up to 65 percent of reported cycling injuries are knee injuries.

We focus on placing your body on your bike in a position that will minimise the risk of injury but maximise your power potential. The joint angles we use can be supported with evidence based research.

Our process involves marking bony points, video clips and the use of our biomechanical software.  We also check your skeletal symmetry before we put you on your bike.

The process usually takes 1-2 hours.

Cost $268.00 (incl GST)

This involves the measurement of human body composition. Your body is the result of lifestyle, nutrition, activity levels and your ethnic origins. We offer a system of assessing your body as it is and monitoring changes over time.

We measure skinfolds, girth measurements, bone diameters, and bone lengths. All measurements are based on international standards (ISAK – International Society of Advanced Kinanthropometry). The entire range of measurements are taken once and then repeated. A third measurement is taken if any fall outside a set margin of error.

You gain knowledge on your body fat, lean mass, and somatotype (body type). Monitoring your changes over time will have a higher degree of accuracy due to the methods used ie. any changes are more likely due to actual changes than due to measurement error.

The process usually takes 30-45 mins.

Cost – $102.00 (incl GST)

Lung function testing (or spirometry) is recommended for all smokers over the age of 45 and in any person presenting with shortness of breath, chronic cough, wheezing, or excessive mucus production. This is a simple and non-invasive test that can be performed easily. Results from the test can be used in the identification of patients at risk for both a restrictive condition (lung volume issues) and obstructive condition (flow issues). 

If an obstructive condition is found, we can evaluate whether the condition is reversible with a bronchodilator medication (test prescribed by your GP).

We use this information to recommend whether lung function training is necessary with our Spirotiger system or the Powerbreathe. Find out more by clicking on Spirotiger or Powerbreathe button in the respiratory menu under the services menu.

The lung function test, analysis, and report takes approximately 30 minutes. Appointments can be made on the same day and results will be sent to your GP within 24 hours if required.

All tests are based on the international standards outlined in the following papers:

• Hankinson JL, Odencratz JR, Fedan KB. Spirometric reference values from a sample of the general US population. Am J Respir Cirt Care Med 1999; 159: 179-187.
• Pellegrino et al. Interpretive strategies for lung function tests. Eur Respir J 2005; 26: 948-968.
• Miller et al. Standardisation of spirometry. Series “ATS/ERS Task Force: Standardisation of Lung Function Testing”. Eur Respir J 2005; 26: 319-338
• Miller et al. General considerations of lung function testing. Series “ATS/ERS Task Force: Standardisation of Lung Function Testing”. Eur Respir J 2005; 26: 153-161.

Cost $87.00 (incl GST)