Impaired respiratory function is common in patients with stroke. The purpose of this study were to investigate the effectiveness of exercises and to assess forced vital capacity and peak cough flow after completion of neck stabilizing and respiratory reeducation exercises (combining diaphragmatic breathing and pursed-lip breathing exercises). The 45 participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group 1 (n1=15), experimental group 2 (n2=15), and a control group (n3=15). All subjects performed conservative physical therapy for 30 minutes. Experimental group 1 undertook the neck stabilizing exercise and the respiratory reeducation exercise. Experimental group 2 undertook the respiratory reeducation exercise. Additional exercise did not exceed 30 minutes, five times a week for six weeks. The subjects were assessed for deep neck flexor thickness and breathing function (forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume at one second, forced expiratory volume at one second/forced vital capacity, peak expiratory flow, and manual assisted peak cough flow) at pre-post value. The results of this study were as follows. Experimental group 1 showed a significant increase only in deep neck flexor thickness change rate (p<.05). All groups showed significant increases in forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume at one second, and peak expiratory flow in pre-post measurement (p<.05). Experimental groups 1 and 2 showed an increase in manual assisted peak cough flow in pre-post measurement (p<.05). There was no significant difference between experimental group 1 and experimental group 2, but experimental group 1 improved more than experimental group 2 in respiratory function as a whole. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the neck stabilizing exercise in combination with the respiratory reeducation exercise can improve forced vital capacity and peak cough flow in patients with stroke.

The purpose of this study is to see the effect of functional electrical stimulation on forced vital capacity and alternating motion rate in children with spastic cerebral palsy. This study divided 20 children with spastic cerebral palsy into two groups; functional electrical stimulation treatment group and control group. Functional electrical stimulation treatment group had 20min per day treatment three times a week for four weeks and the control group did not have any treatment. Before and after intervention, this study measured forced vital capacity and alternate motion rate(/peo/,/teo/) for all children. Forced vital capacity showed statistically significant increase for the group with functional electrical stimulation(p<.05) while the control group did not show any significant increase(p>.05). Alternate motion rate showed statistically significant increase for the group with functional electrical stimulation(p<.05) while the control group did not show any significant increase(p>.05). This result shows that functional electrical stimulation affected the ability of the children with spastic cerebral palsy who have decreased breathing and phonation capability.