The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing versus Pursed-Lips Breathing on Pulmonary Functions among Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Pulmonary rehabilitation plays a key role in the management of chronic obstructivepulmonary disease COPD. It offers supervised exercise and education for those withbreathing problems. The nurse plays a key role in identifying potential candidates forpulmonary rehabilitation, and in facilitating and reinforcing the material learned inrehabilitation program. Objectives: 1-Assess the effect of diaphragmatic breathing onpulmonary functions of COPD patients. 2-Assess the effect of pursed-lips breathing onpulmonary functions of COPD patients. 3-Compare between the effect of diaphragmaticbreathing and pursed-lips breathing on pulmonary functions of COPD patients. Setting: Thestudy was carried out at Inpatient Medical Chest Disease Unit at Alexandria Main UniversityHospital. Subjects: a convenient sample of 60 adult patients of both sexes diagnosed withchronic obstructive pulmonary disease, free from co-morbid diseases that affect the result.The sample was divided randomly into two equal groups, 30 patients each. Group (I) receiveddiaphragmatic breathing training, Group (II) received pursed-lips breathing. Tools: Twotools were used in this study. Tool I an interview questionnaire to illicit socio- demographicdata, tool II the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patient pulmonary functions testsassessment tool. Validity and reliability of the tool were estimated. Results: The studyfindings revealed that pulmonary function parameters showed only significant changes intidal volume and expiratory reserve volume after exercise training in both groups. There weresignificant differences in PaO2, PCO2, SPO2 results among both studied subjects.Conclusion: Diaphragmatic breathing and Pursed lips breathing have almost equal effect onimproving pulmonary functions of COPD patients. Recommendation: Patient educationregarding pulmonary rehabilitation should be part of the in-service nursing health educationprograms.