Impact of Cervical Stabilization Exercises and Breathing Retraining Impact on the Respiratory Function of Elderly Stroke Patients with Hemiplegia: a Randomized Control Trial

This study investigated the effects of cervical stabilization and breathing retraining exercises to improve respiratory function in elderly stroke patients.Forty-five subjects were randomly allocated to three groups (each group, n=15). The exercise was performed five times a week for 6 weeks after general characteristics were confirmed. Experimental group1 performed cervical stabilization and respiratory breathing retraining exercises for 30minute in addition to conventional exercises. Experimental group2 performed respiratory breathing retraining exercises in addition to conventional exercises, and the control group performed self-respiration exercises for 30 min. An experienced physiotherapist provided a demonstration before the patients were assessed, and then the subjects were instructed to breathe only with their mouth in a sitting position with their pelvic joints and knee joints naturally flexed. Forced vital capacity (FVC) was measured to check for restrictive lung disease, and forced expiratory volume at one second (FEC1) was measured to check for obstructive lung disease. In a comparison of groups, there were significant differences in FVC not only between experimental group 1 and the control group but also between experimental group 2 and the control group. The cervical stabilization and respiratory breathing retraining exercises were more effective for FVC than the self-respiration exercises.This result may represent improvement in overall respiratory function and show that cervical stabilization and respiratory breathing retraining exercises are helpful for improving activities of daily living and motor function by increasing respiratory function in stroke patients.