Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Physical Therapy for Cardiolmonary and Geriatrics Disorder

Purpose. To investigate the effect of ultrabreathe training on pulmonary functions in patients with chronic bronchitis. Methods. Randomized controlled trial. Sixty men patients, aged from 50-60 years old chosen from the chest department at El Sahel Teaching Hospital, having moderate chronic bronchitis based on GOLD standard 2013, were randomized by a computer-based randomization program into 2 equal groups in number. Both groups received medical treatment for chronic bronchitis patients. Group (A) received ultrabreathe training plus traditional chest physiotherapy in the form of (pursed lip breathing, postural drainage, percussion, vibration, and coughing) 3 sessions for 4 successive weeks, while group (B) received only the same traditional chest physiotherapy 3 sessions for 4 successive weeks. All patients in both groups were evaluated before and after training for ventilatory functions in form of (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and the ratio between forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC)), dyspnea scale , shuttle walk test and body mass index (BMI). Results.The present study results showed statistically significant increases in FEV1, FVC and shuttle walk test in favour of group (A), whereas there were statistically non-significant differences regarding FEV1/FVC and dyspnea scale when comparing both groups post training.The percentages of improvement for FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, dyspnea scale and shuttle walk test were 12.11%, 8.40%, 2.91%, 18.29% and 6.22% respectively in group (A), while they were 5.00%, 2.85%, 2.22%, 16.08% and 5.38 % in group (B) respectively, (p>0.05)

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