Effects of Diaphragmatic Breathing Patterns on Balance: A Preliminary Clinical Trial (original) (raw)

2017, Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of performing a larger study to determine if training in diaphragmatic breathing influences static and dynamic balance. A group of 13 healthy persons (8 men, 5 women), who were staff, faculty, or students at the University of Western States participated in an 8-week breathing and balance study using an uncontrolled clinical trial design. Participants were given a series of breathing exercises to perform weekly in the clinic and at home. Balance and breathing were assessed at the weekly clinic sessions. Breathing was evaluated with Liebenson's breathing assessment, static balance with the Modified Balance Error Scoring System, and dynamic balance with OptoGait's March in Place protocol. Improvement was noted in mean diaphragmatic breathing scores (1.3 to 2.6, P < .001), number of single-leg stance balance errors (7.1 to 3.8, P = .001), and tandem stance balance errors (3.2 to 0.9, P = .039). A decreasing error rate...