Impact of External Oblique Muscle Training on Ultrasonography and Spirometry Parameters Among Elderly Population

A progressive, generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and associated deterioration in muscle strength and performance increases with age. Aging affect the respiratory muscle performance on respiratory system due to anatomical and physiological changes in muscle strength as well as thickness of the respiratory muscles. During resting breathing the limitation of movement is more evident in expiration than inspiration were the FEV1/FVC% falls in older people. There are lot of study on peripheral muscle thickness and muscle torque among elderly population, but not much study on respiratory muscle training. This made us to conduct a study on pulmonary function and muscle thickness in elderly population by training the expiratory muscles. To determine the effects of external oblique muscle training on pulmonary function and muscle thickness in elderly population. 60 geriatric voluntary subjects were assigned to experimental and control group as (n=30) each. Experimental group subjected to 16 weeks of external oblique strengthening along with incentive spirometer training. Control group subjected to incentive spirometer alone. Pre and post training muscle thickness and pulmonary parameters were assessed. The paired t test found there is significant difference (P<0.05) between pre and post training muscle thickness and pulmonary parameters in experimental group. We recommend that resistance training, not only maintain the muscle thickness also improve the muscle thickness and pulmonary parameters among elderly population.