The purpose of the present study was to compare the usefulness of myofeedback (MFB) training of the respiratory muscles compared with conventional chest physiotherapy. Ten patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were instructed to perform abdominal diaphragmatic breathing exercises. It was thought that these breathing exercises would improve diaphragmatic efficiency in patients with COPD. The patients were randomly assigned to a group and taught breathing exercises, using MFB of the lower third of the rectus abdominis muscle. Another group performed conventional breathing exercises under the guidance of a physiotherapist. The rehabilitation program was performed twice daily for ten days. Before each session, maximal static transrespiratory pressures were measured at different lung volumes and peak flow. After the ten-day training period, peak flow significantly increased and transrespiratory pressures improved in both groups. The major finding in favor of MFB was the significantly larger maximal inspiratory pressures at the functional residual capacity (FRC) for the MFB group (+36.2%) versus the PT group (+8.0%). The mean decrease in FRC for MFB (-11%) was larger compared with only -2% for the patients treated with conventional chest physiotherapy. We suggest that the decrease in the FRC attributable to MFB improved the efficiency of the inspiratory muscles, by causing a more appropriate length and curvature of the diaphragm.
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