The RQ resting metabolic rate test at the Padda Institute in St. Louis is a fifteen to twenty minute breathing test: you sit quietly and breathe into a mouthpiece or mask. The result gives your resting calorie burn and tells whether your body is running mainly on sugar or on fat.
Your physician orders this test when the answer will change your care. Ordered tests are tracked at each visit of our physician-directed physiotherapy program until they are complete.
What is RQ?
RQ is a calm breathing test that shows how your body uses fuel at rest. Seated, you breathe at your usual pace through a mouthpiece or mask.
How does it help with pain?
The result shows your resting calorie burn and whether your body runs mainly on sugar or on fat. Your coaching plan is built around that result.
What will you feel?
Quiet, normal breathing. Nothing goes through the skin.
How do you get ready?
Starting about four hours ahead, skip food, workouts, coffee and nicotine.
What should you tell us first?
- Tell us if breathing through a mouthpiece is hard for you
How long does it take?
Fifteen to twenty minutes.
What to remember
- Four hours before: no food, exercise, caffeine or nicotine.
- It shows whether you burn mostly sugar or fat.
- Your result shapes your eating plan.
Show us you have it: Give us the time you plan to finish eating and drinking coffee on test day. If any part is unclear, ask, and we will walk through it again at your next visit.
Related reading: diet and metabolic health coaching, insulin resistance years before diabetes.