• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2023

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of combined conventional exercise therapy plus respiratory exercise program with combined conventional exercise therapy plus aqua exercise program in the pulmonary function of subacute stroke patients. METHODS: The respiratory exercise program group underwent inspiration and expiration training using the Threshold IMT and Threshold PEP three days per week for four weeks. The aquatic exercise program group had aquatic aerobics, halliwick, and bad ragaz ring training three days per week for four weeks. Before and after the experiment, Pony fx was used to examine the FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, VC, and MVV. RESULTS: Significant improvement was found after the experiment in the FVC. FEV1, VC, MVV, excepting FEV1/FVC, of the pulmonary function in the aquatic exercise program group. After the experiment, significant improvement was found in FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, VC, and MVV of pulmonary function in the respiratory rehabilitation therapy group. No significant difference in FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, VC, and MVV of pulmonary function was observed in the inter-group comparison. CONCLUSION: Significant improvement was found after the experiment in both the aquatic exercise program group and the respiratory exercise program group. No difference in pulmonary function was noted in the inter-group comparison. Therefore, combining general exercise therapy and an aquatic or respiratory exercise program is expected to be effective for the pulmonary function of acute stroke patients. These results are expected to provide basic data to help research intervention of aquatic and respiratory exercise programs for subacute stroke patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.221-230
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• 2023

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the effects of virtual reality combined robot assist gait training (VRG) on improvement of balance and respiratory function in chronic stroke patients. Methods : A single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with 35 chronic stroke patients. They were randomly allocated 2 groups; VRG group (n=18) and conservative treatment group (CG; n=17). The VRG group received 30 minutes robot assisted gait training combined virtual reality training, robot assisted gait training was conducted in parallel using a virtual reality device (2 sessions of 15 minutes in a 3D-recorded walking environment and 15 minutes in a downtown walking environment). In the conservative treatment group, neurodevelopmental therapy and exercise therapy were performed according to the function of stroke patients. Each group performed 30 minutes a day 3 times a week for 8 weeks. The primary outcome balance and respiratory function were measured by a balance measurement system (BioRescue, Marseille, France), Berg balance scale, functional reach test for balance, Spirometry (Cosmed Micro Quark, Cosmed, Italy) for respiratory function Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁), and maximum expiratory volume (PEF) were measured according to the protocol. The measurement were performed before and after the 8 weeks intervention period. Results : Both groups demonstrated significant improvement of outcome in balance and respiratory function during intervention period. VRG revealed significant differences in balance and respiratory function as compared to the CG groups (p<.05). Our results showed that VRG was more effective on balance and respiratory function in patients with chronic stroke. Conclusion : Our findings indicate that VRG can improve balance and respiratory function, highlight the benefits of VRG. This study will be able to be used as an intervention data for recovering balance and respiratory function in chronic stroke patients.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.398-405
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• 2021

Objective: The interest of clinicians is increasing due to the newly established medical insurance for pulmonary rehabilitation. Improvement of respiratory muscle strength and pulmonary function is an important factor in pulmonary rehabilitation, and this study aims to investigate the correlation between changes in respiratory muscle contraction thickness that can affect respiratory muscle strength and pulmonary function. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Methods: Thirty-one subjects (male=13, female=18) participated in this study. The respiratory muscle strength was measured by dividing it into inspiratory/forced expiratory muscles, and the pulmonary function was measured by forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and FEV1/FVC. To evaluate the respiratory muscle length increase, in resting and concentric contraction thickness of diaphragm, external/internal oblique, transverse abdominis, and rectus abdominis were measured by using ultrasonography. Results: Inspiratory muscle strength showed a significant correlation with the length increase of the inspiratory muscle (r=0.368~0.521, p<0.05), and forced expiratory muscle strength showed a significant correlation with length increase of forced expiratory muscle (r=0.356~0.455, p<0.05). However, pulmonary function was not correlated with the length increase of the respiratory muscle. Conclusions: In this study, a correlation between respiratory muscle strength and respiratory muscle length increase was confirmed, but no correlation with the pulmonary function was found. It is considered that the respiratory muscle strength can be improved by increasing the respiratory muscle thickness through appropriate respiratory muscle training.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.340-347
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to investigate the effect on respiratory function, trunk control, and functional activities of daily living (ADL) through respiratory muscle strength training in patients with chronic stroke. Methods: Eighteen subjects who were six months post stroke participated in this study. The subjects were randomly allocated to two groups: experimental (n=10) and control (n=8). Both groups received physical therapy for five sessions, 30 minutes per week, during a period of six weeks. Subjects in the experimental group participated in an additional respiratory muscle strength training program, in which the threshold PEP device was used for 30 minutes per day, three days per week, during a period of six weeks. Results from pretest-posttest control were evaluated by pulmonary function forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow (PEF), capacity of cough, trunk control, and functional ADL. Results: Significant improvement in the FEV1, PEF of pulmonary function (p<0.05), cough function (p<0.05), and trunk control (p<0.05) was observed among the groups. Conclusion: Respiratory muscle strength training improves pulmonary function, capacity of cough, and trunk control. These results suggest that respiratory muscle strength training is feasible and suitable for individuals with chronic stroke.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to determine whether respiratory physical therapy might increase the pulmonary function of the patients with stroke or not. Twenty patients with stroke were randomly assigned to experimental and control group. During four weeks, both groups participated in the conventional physical therapy and only the experimental group added in a program of respiratory physical therapy. Respiratory physical therapy consisted of chest mobilization, resistive ventilatory muscle training used the method of PNF technique and relaxed diaphragm breathing. Baseline and post-test measurements were made of vital capacity. inspiratory capacity, expiratory reserve volume, farced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume at one second, $FE1/FVC(\%)$ and maximal voluntary ventilation. Ater four weeks, the experimental group showed the significant improvement in VC(p<.05). FVC(p<.05), FFV1(p<.05) md MVV(p<.05). However, the controll group showed no significant differnece. As compared th the relationship of dependent variables between the experimental group and control group. experimental group showed the significant difference in VC(p<.01), FEV1(p<.05) and MVV(p<.05). These findings suggest that respiratory physical therapy can be used to improve pulmonary function in stroke patients. Also, respiratory physical therapy should be performed for at least four weeks and be followed by the continuous respiratory exercise programs.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.205-214
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) training and respiratory muscle endurance training on pulmonary function and activity in chronic stroke patients. Methods: The participants were 25 chronic stroke patients. They were assigned to two groups: a PNF and respiratory muscle training group (experimental group; n = 12) and a conservative training group (control group; n = 13). The experimental group completed 50 minutes (30 minutes of conventional physical therapy, 10 minutes of PNF training, and 10 minutes of respiratory muscle endurance training). The control group also completed 50 minutes (30 minutes of conventional physical therapy and 20 minutes on a full-body workout machine). Pulmonary function and activity were measured before and after the intervention, using Cosmed to analyze pulmonary function and 6MWT as clinical evaluation indicators. Results: Both groups showed significant within-group differences on all tests before and after the intervention; the experimental group showed greater improvement on all tests. Conclusion: The findings confirm that PNF training and respiratory muscle endurance training have a positive effect on pulmonary function and activity index in chronic stroke patients.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.351-357
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• 2019

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the effects of the McKenzie exercise program on forward head posture and respiratory function. Methods: Thirty adult men and women with forward head posture, aged 20-29 years, were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N=15) or the control group (N=15). Subjects in the experimental group performed the McKenzie exercises three times a week for four weeks, while subjects in the control group did not receive any intervention. Craniovertebral angle (CVA) was measured to quantify forward head posture, and forced vital capacity (FVC), FVC % predicted, forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV₁), and FEV₁ % predicted were measured to determine changes in respiratory function. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to analyze pre-test differences in forward head posture and respiratory function between the two groups, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze differences in forward head posture and respiratory function within the groups before and after intervention. The significance level (α) was set to 0.05. Results: A comparison of pre- and post-test measures showed that CVA significantly increased in the experimental group (p=0.001) denoting postural improvement, whereas no significant difference was found in the control group (p=0.053). All respiratory measures, i.e.,FVC, FVC %pred, FEV₁, and FEV₁ %pred, were significantly improved in the experimental group, whereas there were no significant differences in the control group. Conclusions: McKenzie exercise can be effective in improving forward head posture and respiratory function.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.10-25
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• 2011

Objectives : Asthma is considered an inflammation disease characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness and pulmonary eosinophilia. Chungsang boha-tang is a herbal medication which has been frequently used in traditional therapeutic agents for asthma. We aimed to observe the clinical effects of Chungsangboha-tang on blood eosinophil, serum IgE, AST, ALT and pulmonary function in asthmatic outpatients. Methods : The subjects consisted of 66 asthmatic patients who had been treated with Chungsangboha-tang among all the asthmatic patients who visited the 5th Internal Medicine of the Oriental Medicine Hospital of Kyung Hee University from November,2004 to November,2009. We observed blood eosinophil, serum IgE, AST, ALT levels and pulmonary function test results as well as medical records of patients to evaluate the effects. Results : Pulmonary function significantly improved after 8 weeks of treatment, and blood eosinophil and serum IgE level significantly decreased after 8 weeks of treatment. AST, ALT levels changed in normal ranges. Chungsangboha-tang was significantly effective on the male patients who had a smoking history and worse initial lab findings. We also observed a significant improvement of pulmonary function and decrease of eosinophil and serum IgE levels in the patient group who had a single treatment of Chungsangboha-tang without steroid therapy. Conclusions : This study shows that Chungsangboha-tang has effects on the improvement of pulmonary function and decrease of eosinophil and serum IgE levels as well as improvement of symptoms. And, 8 weeks of long-term treatment showed no negative effects such as significant increase of AST, ALT levels.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.333-339
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of trunk mobilization and stretching activities on respiratory function, trunk posture, and physical fatigue for elderlies with restrictive lung diseases and related respiratory impairment. The present study was conducted with ten subjects, participating for eight weeks between January and November 2014. Subjects performed trunk mobilization and stretching routines for 30 minutes per day for three days each week. The study results showed that there were significant improvements in FVC and FEV1, trunk posture, trunk movement and physical fatigue(p<.05). The study results verified that trunk mobilization and stretching activities can be used as respiratory orthopedic manual therapy to improve respiratory function, trunk posture, trunk movement and physical fatigue simultaneously for elderly with respiratory impairment. Continuous studies through therapeutic convergence with the exercise field along with the respiratory orthopedic manual therapy that used in this study for elderly people with restrictive lung diseases will be necessary for the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6779-6782
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• 2015

Background: Chemoradiotherapy is an important treatment modality for lung cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in, as well as the interrelationship between, lung function and quality of life of patients receiving chemoradiotherapy due to locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) limited to the thorax. Materials and Methods: The study included patients receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy for lung carcinoma. The respiratory function of the patients was assessed by measuring forced expiratory volume in 1 s per unit (FEV1) and forced expiratory volume in 1s per unit of vital capacity (FEV1/VC) before, in the middle of and after treatment. During the study, EORTC QLQ C30 and LC13 questionnaires developed by the Committee of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) were employed to evaluate the quality of life on the same day as respiratory function tests (RFT). Findings: The study included 23 patients in total: 19 (82.6%) diagnosed with NSCLC and 4 (17.4%) with SCLC. The average percentage FEV1 was $55.6{\pm}21.8%$ in the pre-treatment period, $56.2{\pm}19.2%$ in the middle of treatment and $60.4{\pm}22%$ at the end of treatment. The improvement in functional scores, symptom scores and general health scores during treatment was not statistically significant (P= 0.568, P= 0.734, P= 0.680, P=0.757 respectively). Conclusions: Although this study showed an improvement in respiratory function and quality of life of patients during treatment with thoracic chemoradiotherapy, no statistically significant results were obtained. While evaluating the effectiveness of treatments for lung carcinoma, the effects of treatment on respiratory function and quality of life should be considered.