The effect of thoracic manipulation on pulmonary function in swimmers

Abstract

Objective: Spinal manipulation has been used to improve respiratory function in healthy individuals. However, it has been observed that there are no studies in the context of sports activities. The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of thoracic spinal manipulation on forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second and maximal voluntary ventilation in swimmers.
 Method: A randomized controlled crossover study consisting of 21 swimmers, divided into two groups (Intervention vs Control), aged 16 – 24y, where forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second and maximal voluntary ventilation were measured in five evaluation moments: at baseline and, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes following the thoracic spinal manipulation procedures.
 Results: ANOVA tests showed no statistically significant differences for forced vital capacity (p = 0.35) and forced expiratory volume in one second (p = 0.25) among the five evaluation moments. With the maximal voluntary ventilation there was a statistically significant (p = 0.02) reduction, observed between baseline (86.00 litres) and at 10 minutes (79.29 litres) and 30 minutes (76.24 litres). No significant differences were observed between the results of intervention and control groups.
 Conclusions: In the current study no significant differences were observed in pulmonary function after thoracic spinal manipulation. Future research efforts should examine the effects of different manual therapy techniques and treatment protocols.