The Influence of Breathing Exercises on Regional Ventilation in Healthy and Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - PubMed
Source : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37477218/
We hypothesized that the respiratory exercises have uniform effects on ventilation in healthy subjects but the effects varied in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this study, a total of 30 healthy volunteers and 9 patients with COPD were included. Data were recorded cont ...
Conclusions/Relevance: Although this trend was observed in the COPD, the differences were not significant. Ventilation became more homogeneous when diaphragmatic breathing technique was implemented (p < 0.0001). Again, the improvements were not significant in COPD. Regional ventilation delay was relatively high in COPD and comparable in various breathing periods. In conclusions, the impact of pursed lip and diaphragmatic breathing varied in different patients with COPD. Breathing exercise may need to be individualized to maximize the training efficacy with help of EIT.
• Source: COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Discussion: “In the present study, we demonstrated the influences of breathing exercises on regional ventilation in healthy volunteers and subjects with COPD. The influences in healthy volunteers were systematic. On the other hand, the effects of breathing exercises varied in patients with COPD with considerable inter-subject variations based on the small sample size.”
• Chinese investigators hypothesized that respiratory exercises affect ventilation in healthy adults in a uniform fashion vs. varied effects. In the current study, they included 30 healthy volunteers and 9 COPD patients. Data were collected continuously during (1) diaphragmatic breathing, (2) pursed lip breathing with full inhalation, (3) and pursed lip combining diaphragmatic breathing. The investigators randomized the sequence of the three breathing exercises.
• “Pursed lip breathing and diaphragmatic breathing techniques are easy to learn, and patients can practice at home to ease the symptoms” the researchers wrote. “In the control cohort, we found that these breathing exercises can increase lung ventilation through active inhalation and exhalation (TV and EELI). Besides, ventilation redistributed toward ventral regions (CoV) and introduce a slightly higher temporal ventilation difference (RVD). Diaphragmatic breathing improves ventilation homogeneity while pursed lip breathing does not (GI).”
• The effects of breathing exercises were consistent among healthy subjects examined in the study. In COPD patients, similar trends were observed but with greater variation, which resulted in statistically insignificant results.
• Limitations of the study include younger participants understanding the breathing exercises better than do older patients; an insufficient break time between exercises, which could affect those with COPD differently; and a small sample size.