Pathophysiology Flashcards
7 cards from real ACSM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Pathophysiology flashcards as text
Which pathophysiological change in osteoporosis most directly increases fracture risk during exercise?
Answer: Increased osteoclast activity reducing bone mineral density below fracture threshold
Excessive osteoclast resorption relative to osteoblast formation reduces bone mineral density to levels where normal mechanical loads exceed bone strength.
A client with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experiences morning stiffness lasting over one hour. This symptom results from which pathological process?
Answer: Synovial inflammation and pannus formation causing joint swelling overnight
RA-related synovitis causes synovial fluid accumulation and pannus formation; prolonged inactivity during sleep allows inflammatory exudate to thicken, causing stiffness that mobilizes with movement.
Which pulmonary response to exercise is most abnormal in a patient with pulmonary hypertension?
Answer: Failure of pulmonary vascular resistance to decrease with increased cardiac output
Normally, pulmonary vascular resistance falls during exercise as vessels recruit and dilate; in pulmonary hypertension, vascular remodeling prevents this response, increasing right ventricular afterload.
In a patient with autonomic neuropathy from long-standing diabetes, what exercise response would the EP expect?
Answer: Blunted heart rate response and orthostatic hypotension risk
Autonomic neuropathy damages sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers, impairing heart rate regulation and blood pressure response to positional changes.
Which mechanism explains why patients with anemia have reduced exercise capacity?
Answer: Reduced oxygen-carrying capacity lowering maximal oxygen delivery to muscles
Hemoglobin concentration directly determines oxygen-carrying capacity; low hemoglobin reduces the amount of O2 delivered per unit of cardiac output, limiting VO2max.
Exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) is triggered primarily by which mechanism?
Answer: Airway cooling and drying during high ventilation causing mast cell degranulation
Rapid breathing of cool, dry air during exercise dehydrates and cools bronchial mucosa, triggering mast cell release of histamine and leukotrienes causing bronchoconstriction.
In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), exercise intolerance is primarily caused by which mechanism?
Answer: Impaired left ventricular relaxation limiting diastolic filling at higher heart rates
In HFpEF the ventricle is stiff; as heart rate rises during exercise, diastolic filling time shortens but the stiff ventricle cannot fill quickly, limiting stroke volume and cardiac output.