Oxygen cost of thoracic and diaphragmatic breathing during hyperventilation in healthy males.
Nobuhisa Ishii, Kazuhide Tomita, Shinsuke Suetake and 5 others
PMID 29545685WHAT IT FOUND
In 10 healthy men, diaphragmatic breathing used less oxygen per kilogram of body weight than thoracic breathing during brief hyperventilation, by 1.0 ml/kg.
The oxygen cost of breathing was also lower, but patients and exercise were not tested.
Key findings
01During hyperventilation, oxygen uptake per body weight was lower with diaphragmatic breathing than with thoracic breathing by 1.0 ml/kg.
02The calculated oxygen cost of breathing was lower during diaphragmatic breathing than during thoracic breathing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 10 healthy male subjects were studied, so the results cannot be applied to women, older adults, or people with disease. The breathing tests lasted one minute each and used rebreather-induced hyperventilation, not real dynamic exercise. The oxygen cost of breathing was calculated from whole-body oxygen uptake and ventilation, not measured directly in the respiratory muscles. The methods do not describe randomization or blinding, and the order of breathing tests was fixed. The paper did not test patients or exercise tolerance.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that diaphragmatic breathing improves exercise tolerance in patients. The study measured oxygen cost during short rebreather-induced hyperventilation in 10 healthy males, not during dynamic exercise or in people with respiratory disease.