Upper Limb Aerobic Training versus Chest Physical Therapy in Asthmatic Children Rehabilitation

Abstract

With asthma, children have a significant impairment in ventilatory functions which lead to impairment in functional capacity and developing lung infections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of treadmill training versus arm ergometry on ventilatory functions in children with asthma. Children for 16 weeks of training - 40 asthmatic children of both sexes participated in this study. They were classified randomly into 2 groups of equal number. (Group A) 20 children received chest physical therapy, (Group B) 20 children received arm ergometry training. Discovery diagnostic spirometer was used to measure the ventilatory functions. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1), Maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR). The pre-treatment results showed that there were no significant differences in all measured parameters among both groups, The post-treatment results revealed that there was a significant improvement in both groups of the patient’s ventilatory function “FVC, FEV1 and PEFR”