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.

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of thoracic flexibility exercise on chest function and mobility and to provide the information of physical therapy for patients with idiopathic scoliosis. Forty female subjects who were diagnosed with scoliosis participated in this study and were divided into the experimental and control groups. The experimental group consisted of 20 patients who were treated with thoracic flexibility exercise program during the admission (10 days) ad one month after discharge. The control group consisted of 20 patients who were not treated with thoracic flexibility exercise program. Vital capacity was measured using a respirometer. The chest expansion were calculated using differences of chest circumference between maximum inspiration and maximum expiration measured under armpits, at the junction between the sternum and xyphoid process, and at the waist. All subjects were measured two times: before the admission and at one month after discharge. Data were compared by groups using independent t-test, Vital capacity and chest expansion values (the armpit, chest and waist values) were significantly higher for the experimental group compared to those of the control group (p<.05). The findings of this study show that thoracic flexibility exercise program can lead to an increase in vital capacity and chest expansion and has a positive effects in relieving symptoms and restoring thoracic mobility.

The purpose of this study was to identify vital capacity (VC) in relation to the changing position of 19 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and 20 normal controls. Among the 19 SCI patients, there were 9 quadriplegics and 10 paraplegics. The vital capacity was measured in each subject during sitting, standing, lying, and head down position of 30 degrees. The data were analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, and Wilcoxon signed rank test. For the SCI, significant difference of VC accoring to the 4 positions between quadriplegics and paraplegics. In the control group, significant difference of VC according to the 4 positions. In 4 positions the VC of men were significantly larger than that of women between two groups. No statistical significant difference was shown in VC by the postural change between quadriplegics and paraplegics.

Body position is known to have an effect on vital capacity(VC). The purpose of this study was to examine effect on VC of posture, sex and smoking, and the difference between predicted and measured values of VC. VC was measured in the standing and the head-down position in 40 healthy subjects (20 men and 20 women) in a random order of testing. When subjects changed from standing to head-down position, this VC decreased by 19.9%. In both positions, VC changes in men were significantly larger than in women. No statistically significant difference was found in men who smoked. There was no difference between the predicted and measured values in men. But measured values were larger than predicted values in women. Because VC can decrease by 19.9% in the head-down position due to the effect of gravity, attention should be paid especially to patients who are placed in the head-down position for postural drainage since they already have a decreased VC.

This study investigated the correlation of physique factor( standing height, body weight, chest girth, body surface ) and vital capacity upon records of swimming discipline at sea water. The subjects are 194 sophomore students of Korea Maritime University who participated in the swimming discipline. The swimming records were divided into three groups - higher, middle and lower group. The results from this investigation are as follow ; 1. The standing height was above the average on the A, B+ record, body weight was above on the A+, A record, and vital capacity was above on the A+, A, B+, C record respectively. 2. The standing height, body weight, chest girth, body surface, vital capacity was significantly correlated between record P < 0.05 and P < 0.01. Therefore the higher record group has better physique factor and vital capacity than the middle or lower record group. 3. The standing higher of the higher record group was significantly correlated with body weight(0.514), body surface(0.768) and vital capacity(0.427), and body weight was significantly correlated with chest girth(0.525), body surface(0.940) and vital capacity. This standing heiht of the middle record group was sigificantly correlated with body weight(0.509) and body surface(0.779), and body weight was significantly orrelated with chest grith(0.618) and body surface(0.927). The standing height of the lower record group was significantly correlated with body weight(0.595), chest grith(0.363), body surface(0.802) and vital capacity(0.250), and body weight was significantly correlated with chest grith(0.678) and body surface(0.952).