A study of soft tissue manual therapy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) an extra pulmonary manifestation includes altered chest wall mechanics and musculoskeletal dysfunction. The influence of soft tissue manual therapy techniques on chest expansion and pulmonary function remains largely unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this pilot study was to find the effectiveness of soft tissue release manual therapy techniques (STRMTT) on improvement of chest expansion, Pulmonary function- FEV/FEV6, health related quality of life in patients with moderate COPD. A comparative study design with two groups- Experimental Group and Control Group, conducted on total 20 subjects, 10 in each group. The Experimental group subjects received soft tissue release manual therapy techniques along with conventional treatment whereas control group subjects received only conventional exercises. Both the group subjects received treatment twice in a week for a period of eight weeks. The outcome measures such as Chest expansion, pulmonary function FEV1/FEV6 and Quality of life were measured at before intervention and after 8 weeks of intervention. The comparative analysis of post intervention means using Independent t test between the groups found statistically significant difference (plt0.05) in Chest expansion at Axillary level and Xiphisternum level, FEV1/FEV6, between the groups and there is no statistically significant difference in Quality of life measured using St. George respiratory questionnaire components- Symptoms, Activity, Impact and total score. The study concluded that 8 weeks of soft tissue release manual therapy techniques along with conventional treatment shown statistically significant effect in improving chest expansion and FEV1/FEV6 when compared with the only conventional exercises. newline newline