The Significance of Posture on Assessment of Pulmonary Function after Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Tetraplegia

Kim, Yong Rae; Lee, Sang Jin; Kim, Hyung Jun; Lee, Sung Beom

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
In patients with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI), it is known that vital capacity of the supine position is larger than that of the sitting position, but after pulmonary rehabilitation treatment, the effect on assessment of vital capacity according to the posture is not yet clearly known. In this study, we evaluated the significance of posture on assessment of pulmonary function after pulmonary rehabilitation treatment in patients with cervical SCI. METHOD: Twenty-eight patients with cervical SCI were participated in this study. The pulmonary function was evaluated by measuring vital capacity (VC), tidal volume (TV), maximum insufflation capacity (MIC) and forced expiratory volume at the first second (FEV1) in both supine and sitting position, before and after the 4 weeks pulmonary rehabilitation treatment. The parameters of pulmonary function were analyzed and compared according to the posture. RESULTS: Before pulmonary rehabilitation treatment, VC, TV, MIC and FEV1 of the supine position were significantly larger than those of the sitting position (p<0.05). After pulmonary rehabilitation treatment, VC, TV, MIC and FEV1 of the supine position were also significantly larger than those of the sitting position (p<0.05). Vital capacity, TV, MIC and FEV1 were significantly improved after pulmonary rehabilitation treatment both supine and sitting position (p<0.05), but the improvement ratio of VC, TV, MIC and FEV1 between supine and sitting position were not significantly different (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: For the proper assessment of the pulmonary function after pulmonary rehabilitation treatment in patients with cervical SCI, the significance of posture should be considered.