Effects of Short Term Pulmonary Rehabilitation with or without Respiratory Muscle Stretch Gymnastics on Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background and Purpose

Short term Pulmonary Rehabilitation has been shown to have beneficial effects in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Studies have also shown the unique effects caused by Respiratory Muscle Stretch Gymnastics (RMSG) in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The study aimed to find out the effects of short term pulmonary rehabilitation with or without respiratory muscle stretch gymnastics on quality of life in patients with COPD.

Methodology

A total of 40 patients in the age group of 40-70 years constituted the study population. Quality of life of patients was assessed with Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) both, before and after rehabilitation program of 3 weeks. Results The data obtained were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. The CRQ scores showed statistically insignificant differences between both the rehabilitation groups after a period of 3 weeks.

Conclusion

There were no statistically significant differences between short term pulmonary rehabilitation with RMSG group (group 1) and only short term pulmonary rehabilitation group (group 2) after a period of 3 weeks. Both the rehabilitation methods were equally effective in improving the quality of life of the patients.