Efficacy of feedback respiratory training on respiratory muscle strength and quality of life in children with spastic cerebral palsy: Randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Respiratory muscle weakness and a low upper to lower chest diameter ratio are common respiratory dysfunction manifestations in children with cerebral palsy (CP), which negatively affect their quality of life. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of incentive spirometry (IS) training on these manifestations in those children. Totally, 30 children with spastic diplegic CP, aged between 6 and 12 years, were randomly assigned into two groups: the study group and the control group. Both groups received a traditional physical therapy program for 60 min. The study group received also IS training twice per session (15 min each). Children in both groups received 20 training sessions (five times/week for 4 weeks). Respiratory muscle strength, ratio of upper to lower chest wall, gross motor function, and health-related quality of life were assessed before and after training. After training, significant improvements of maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, and ratio of upper to lower chest wall were obtained in the study group (P=0.002, 0.002, 0.005, respectively), whereas nonsignificant changes were obtained in the control group (P=0.719, 1, 0.284, respectively). In addition, a significant difference was observed between both groups in maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, but in favor of study group (P=0.001, 0.001, respectively), whereas there was a nonsignificant difference in the ratio of upper to lower chest wall, gross motor function, and health-related quality of life (P=0.279, 0.527, 0.876, respectively). Feedback respiratory training improves respiratory muscle strength in spastic CP children.