Abstract
Recent studies have suggested that breathing type may affect balance ability. However, most of these studies were conducted on the elderly and patients with musculoskeletal or neurological disorders. Therefore, the effect of voluntary breathing, such as thoracic and abdominal breathing, on the balance ability of people in various age groups is not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in balance ability according to the type of breathing in healthy young adults. This study included 78 healthy, young adults. All subjects were assessed for balance ability in neutral breathing, thoracic breathing, and abdominal breathing through a crossover design. Balance ability was assessed during static standing using a force plate. Participants were trained in voluntary breathing, evaluated using electromyography. During voluntary breathing, sway velocity, anterior-posterior difference, and anterior-posterior standard deviation increased while anterior-posterior sample entropy decreased compared to neutral breathing (p < 0.05). Compared with thoracic breathing, abdominal breathing increased sway velocity and variability, and reduced complexity (p < 0.05). These findings show that balance ability is affected by breathing, even in healthy young adults.
Highlights
Balance is the ability to maintain the center of gravity (COG) in the base of support (BOS) with minimum postural sway [1,2,3,4,5]
These results show that voluntary breathing could affect the equilibrium state of healthy adults and that in challenging situations, an increase in postural sway could occur in healthy young adults, similar to that in the elderly and patients with physical disorders
Voluntary breathing induces greater activation of respiratory muscles than in NB condition, and our results showed that the activity of external intercostal muscle and sternocleidomastoid muscle was higher in thoracic breathing (TB) than in NB (Table 3)
Summary
Balance is the ability to maintain the center of gravity (COG) in the base of support (BOS) with minimum postural sway [1,2,3,4,5]. Deterioration of body functions due to aging and diseases could adversely affect balance functions, such as a decrease in the ability to maintain COG in the BOS and an increase in the sway area in response to postural changes [3,4,5]. This decrease in balance ability can lead to a decrease in the range of daily life and an increase in the fall accident rate [6]. The muscular system maintains the human body’s equilibrium by controlling posture through signals from the central nervous system [9,10]
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