الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Background: Respiratory dysfunction remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Objectives: To determine the effect of respiratory strengthening exercise on arterial blood gases in post-operative cervical spinal cord injury patients. Methods: forty four patients of both sexes (25 male & 19 female) age range from 30-50 years old, post-operative cervical SCI, C3, 4, 5. They were selected from inpatient department Kasr Al-aini hospital, Cairo University. All patients were carefully examined and referred by their (neurosurgeon).All patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups, group A included 21 patients trained by (power breath plus traditional chest physiotherapy (diaphragmatic breathing exercise, costal breathing exercise (localized breathing), suction, percussion and vibration), for 2 weeks, 3 times / day. group B included 23 patients, who received traditional chest physiotherapy only for 2 weeks, 3 times / day. Arterial blood gases were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Results: There were significant differences between the two groups at the end of the study. Significant improvement of pH by 2.6 %, PO₂by 15 %, PCO₂by 20.5 %, HCO₃by 17.9 % and dyspnea score by 58.9 % were observed in group A (p<0.05), While there was non-significant changespH by 0.8 %, PO₂by 3.4 %, PCO₂by 3.3 %, HCO₃by 7.5 % and dyspnea score by 17.5 % in group B (p>0.05) after the 2-week intervention. |