Effects of the physical therapy on ventilatory parameters and thoracoabdominal dynamics of mouth breathing children

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the physiotherapy on the ventilatory parameters and thoracoabdominal dynamics of mouth breathing children. Ten mouth breathing children were undergone to 20 sessions of respiratory reeducation and postural correction through stretching and strengthening exercises on Swiss ball, diaphragmatic stimulation and stretching of the inspiratory accessory muscles. The data collected were measurements of the maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressures (MIP and MEP), inspiratory capacity (IC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), the chest wall mobility measured by the respiratory coefficient (Rc) at the levels of the axillary (RcA), xiphosternal (RcX) and umbilical (RcU) regions and biophotogrametry analysis of the Charpy angle. These were measured before and after 10 and 20 sessions. A 1-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences in variables among the three evaluations. Post-hoc comparisons were conducted with the Tukey's Test. It was considered a significance level of 5% (p<0.05). There were improvements on Charpy angle (p=0.048), IC (p=0.037), PEF (0.002), MIP (p=0.007), RcA (p=0.008) and RcX (p=0.041) measures. Although MEP and RcU improved their absolute values, the results were not statistically significant. The program of respiratory physiotherapy and postural correction produced positive effects on the ventilatory function of mouth breathing children.