Cardiopulmonary problems outlank problems of the urinary system as the most common problems involved in the death of patients with spinal cord injury, both during the acute phase and also during later years, especially in quadriplegics. These studies were undertaken to see whether respiratory muscle training can improve pulmonary function in the cervical cord injured. Nineteen patients with cervical cord injury participated in a program of respiratory muscle training for 6 weeks. Respiratory muscle training consisted of spiroflow blow bottle, incentive spirometry and resistive exercise for sternocleidomastoid and upper trapezius muscles.
The pulmonary function test revealed restrictive type in 14 out of 19 subjects before respiratory muscle training and improved to normal range in 7 subjects after 2 weeks of training. The vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second and inspiratory reserve volume increased significantly by 2 weeks and the forced vital capacity increased progressively over the first 4 weeks but there is no significant interval change in tidal volume and expiratory reserve volume after respiratory muscle training. The difference in pulmonary function test between the complete and incomplete cervical cord injured are not significant.
The respiratory muscle training program is necessary to improve the pulmonary function and should be maintained at least 4 weeks and followed by continuous training program in the cervical cord injured.
