The rationale for the use of osteopathic correction in patients with nasal breathing disorders

Abstract

Introduction Todate, the prevalence of breathing disorders in children and adults makes it necessary to modify diagnostic and therapeutic measures to improve the health status of patients. Currently, the question of whether complex treatment of comorbid patients affects their respiratory function remains open. Purpose To evaluate the effect of osteopathic correction of nasal breathing disorders in orthodontic patients with occlusion pathology. Materials and methods 30 orthodontic patients with concomitant nasal breathing disorders underwent osteopathic correction of the nasal-frontal complex using the author's method (patent application 2023131610). The method of breathing assessment was spirometry with CONTEC SP80B device.The study standardization included the patient's sitting position; a maximal deep breath was taken through the nose with tight lips followed by a complete exhalation through the mouth into the tube of the device. For each patient, the vital capacity of the lungs (VC) was assessed before osteopathic treatment (FVC0), immediately after osteopathic treatment (FVC1) and in 1.5 months (FVC2) in order to assess the delayed outcomes of the osteopathic correction. Friedman's one-way analysis was used to test the statistical significance of differences between the groups, then the groups were compared in pairs with each other using the Nemenyi test. The overall significance level was taken as 0.5. The statistical criteria were calculated using the scipy version 1.9.1 and scikit-posthocs version 0.7.0 packages of the Python 3.10 programming language. Results The overall difference in the medians of all subjects in terms of vital capacity before and immediately after the osteopathic correction (FVC1 and FVC0) was 23%, and it was 26%inthe groups relative to the primary values (FVC2 and FVC0) in 1.5 months after the osteopathic correction.If we consider the male half of the patients, the median increase in vital capacity was 18% in 1.5 months after the intervention,while it was 31% in women.In patients under 20 years old, the median increase in vital capacityimmediately after the osteopathic correctionwas 26%, and in 1.5 months after the intervention, the median increase was another 6%; in patients over 20 years old, the increase in vital capacity was 11% immediately after the osteopathic correctionand another 5%in 1.5 months. Conclusion The osteopathic correction of dysfunctions of the frontal-nasal complex according to the author's method with acomprehensive approach improves nasal breathing, contributes to the normalization of general health status, posture, feet, and psychological state and improves the effect of orthodontic appliances in the treatment of malocclusion pathology.