Abstract

Evaluation of the effect of the elastic abdominal strap, on the reduction of the respiratory restrictive syndrome in spinal cord, injured patients (C5 to T12) less than 6 months old

Author(s): Rola Tout*, Joseph Maarrawi and Mohamad Halimi

Methods: 27 spinal cord injured subjects are included in the study to evaluate the effect of wearing of an elastic abdominal strap on the restrictive syndrome. Two measures are made: the measurements of staged thoracic amplification and the measurement of the respiratory functional exploration without and with abdominal strap.
Results: no effect on the respiratory functional exploration measurements (p-value>0.05), significant increase in chest expansion at the axillary and xiphoid level (p-value<0.05) and significant decreased in diaphragmatic amplification (p-value<0.05).
Discussion: The use of an abdominal strap does not improve the parameters of the respiratory functional exploration in spinal cord injured and opposes the mechanical and physiology of breathing by minimizing the action of the diaphragm and increasing the thoracic perimeters whatever it is the level of the spinal cord injury from C5 to T12.
Conclusion: The use of an elastic abdominal strap in spinal cord injured patients do not improve respiratory functional exploration parameters and leads to an increase in axillary and xiphoidal thoracic amplification and to a decreased of the abdominal diaphragmatic one.