Abstract
Dysfunctional breathing patterns (DBP) can have an impact on an individual’s quality of life and/or exercise performance. Breathing retraining is considered to be the first line of treatment to correct breathing pattern, for example, reducing ribcage versus abdominal movement asynchrony. Optoelectronic plethysmography (OEP) is a non-invasive 3D motion capture technique that measures the movement of the chest wall. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the use of a newly developed real-time OEP phase angle and volume feedback system, as an acute breathing retraining intervention, could result in a greater reduction of phase angle values (i.e., an improvement in movement synchrony) when compared to real-time OEP volume feedback alone. Eighteen individuals with a DBP performed an incremental cycle test with OEP measuring chest wall movement. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control group, which included the volume-based OEP feedback or to the experimental group, which included both the volume-based and phase angle OEP feedback. Participants then repeated the same cycle test using the real-time OEP feedback. The phase angle between the ribcage versus abdomen (RcAbPhase), between the pulmonary ribcage and the combined abdominal ribcage and abdomen (RCpAbPhase), and between the abdomen and the shoulders (AbSPhase) were calculated during both cycle tests. Significant increases in RcAbPhase (pre: −2.89°, post: −1.39°, p < 0.01), RCpAbPhase (pre: −2.00°, post: −0.50°, p < 0.01), and AbSPhase (pre: −2.60°, post: −0.72°, p < 0.01) were found post-intervention in the experimental group. This indicates that the experimental group demonstrated improved synchrony in their breathing pattern and therefore, reverting towards a healthy breathing pattern. This study shows for the first time that dysfunctional breathing patterns can be acutely improved with real-time OEP phase angle feedback and provides interesting insight into the feasibility of using this novel feedback system for breathing pattern retraining in individuals with DBP.
Highlights
Dysfunctional breathing is defined as chronic alterations in breathing pattern which may present as hyperventilation, an asynchronous breathing pattern, and/or a thoracic dominant breathing pattern, such that the contribution of the upper chest compartment to the total breath volume is greater compared to healthy individuals [1]
This study shows for the first time that dysfunctional breathing patterns can be acutely improved with real-time Optoelectronic plethysmography (OEP) phase angle feedback and provides interesting insight into the feasibility of using this novel feedback system for breathing pattern retraining in individuals with Dysfunctional breathing patterns (DBP)
This study demonstrates that dysfunctional breathing patterns can be acutely improved with breathing retraining using a novel real-time OEP phase angle feedback
Summary
Dysfunctional breathing is defined as chronic alterations in breathing pattern which may present as hyperventilation, an asynchronous breathing pattern, and/or a thoracic dominant breathing pattern, such that the contribution of the upper chest compartment to the total breath volume is greater compared to healthy individuals [1]. Breathing pattern retraining aims to progressively alter and retrain an individual’s breathing pattern, in order to restore and maintain a healthy, normal breathing pattern through the use of breathing exercises [8]. Breathing exercises can focus on a number of different factors including reducing respiratory rate and tidal volume [7], altering breathing pattern, improving respiratory muscle strength and/or endurance, improving posture, and/or increasing the range of motion of the thorax [9]
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