Efeito do Treinamento Muscular Respiratório por Meio do Manovacuômetro e do Threshold Pep em Pacientes Hemiparéticos Hospitalizados

Abstract

Stroke is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Besides of body movement deficit and bed immobilization, the patients with stroke have shown less respiratory muscle strength, leading to lung mechanics changes which predispose those patients to lung infections and often hospital confinement. The main purpose of the present work is to analyze the efficiency of training of the respiratory muscle power in the patients with stroke, by means of the Threshold™ PEP. The maximum static respiratory pressure and the expiratory peak flow were evaluated using a vacuum manometer and a Peak Flow Asthma Plan, respectively. In order to to train the expiratory muscle system, a Threshold™ PEP was used. 36 patients with stroke in confinement were selected and divided in 2 groups: Group I (trained stroke group) and Group II (control stroke group). The results, obtained in a five days trial, show that the patients submitted to the expiratory muscular training have presented a considerable increase of the maximum respiratory pressure, which may enable a decrease of the complications originated from the respiratory muscular weakness. Furthermore, it has been shown that Threshold™ PEP is an efficient device for supporting the gain of respiratory muscular strength.