The effect of transcutaneous electrical diaphragmatic stimulation on respiratory parameters of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of transcutaneous electrical diaphragmatic stimulation (TEDS) on respiratory muscle strength and endurance, thoracic-abdominal expansibility and spirometric variables of subjects with chronic as obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Eight COPD patients submitted to respiratory physiotherapy received treatment with TEDS twice a week for 06 weeks, totaling 12 sessions. Before and after TEDS they were evaluated by the following parameters: maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP); maximal expiratory pressure (MEP); axillary, xiphoid and abdominal cyrtometry; and spirometry. After the Shapiro-Wilk test, the paired Student's-t test and the Mann-Whitney test were applied for comparison of the two stages (before and after TEDS). For comparison of the before, after (post-1st session), 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th week stages, the ANOVA followed by Tukey test were applied (p<0.05). In accordance with the results obtained it was observed that TEDS promoted significant increase in: MIP (47.3%); MEP (21.7%); axillary (55.5%); xiphoid (59.2%) and abdominal (74.2%) cyrtometry, but not in the spirometric variables. In longitudinal analysis (in the 4 following weeks) the increase found in MIP and in thoracic-abdominal expansibility was maintained. Thus, we conclude that TEDS promoted improvement in respiratory muscle strength and thoracic-abdominal expansibility in COPD patients without alterations in spirometric variables, and some parameters were maintained in the following 4 weeks..