ABSTRACT
Exercise represents a state of physical exertion of the body and it is associated with extensive alterations in respiratory systems. The respiratory mechanisms operate in an integrated fashion to meet the oxygen demands of the tissues during exercise. Measurement of pulmonary functions before and after exercise could provide useful information about the functional reserve capacity of lungs both in healthy persons and in patients with respiratory diseases. Functional exercise is known to improve physical fitness and to reduce mortality and morbidity from chronic ailments. The physiological actions of functional exercise on the lungs increase the need of oxygen supply to muscle and blood (increase ventilation), enhancing lung capacity, optimize the efficiency of gas exchange, strengthen the respiratory muscle, improved in airway clearance and lung functions, to reduce resting respiratory rate and also increases tolerance to breathlessness. Extensive research has been done on various aspects of pulmonary function tests, but surprisingly very few studies had explored the effect of acute exercise on pulmonary function tests in normal female individuals and they had revealed controversial results. Though the association of female gender and anthropometric indices on lung functions have been well established, the influence of exercise induced significant changes on pulmonary function tests in adult young female individuals.The specific objective of this study is to assess the effect of the forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in 1 sec (FEV1), FEV1 as a percentage of FVC (FEV1/FVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), rate of airflow of forced expiratory at 25% (FEF25) and 75% (FEF75) and the average rate of airflow of forced expiratory between 25% and 75% (FEF25-75) in pre and post functional exercise in females. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of functional exercise in pulmonary function in females. Methodology: The study population of subject used were fifty-two (52) adult females of different categories from age 17- 25 year. Procedure for Six Walk Test (6MWT) test was conducted in a control environment with a marked corridor of 30 meter. The participant was instructed to walk at their own pace, covering as much distance as possible within six minutes. Resting was allowed, but the clock continued to run. Spirometry procedures is as follows: 1. The participant’s sat upright and relaxed. 2. The participant’s wore nose clip to prevent air from escaping. 3.The participant’s placed the mouthpiece of the spirometer between their lips and sealed it tightly. 4.The participant took a deep breath and exhaled as forcefully as possible for at least 6 seconds. 5.The values (such as FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC%, PEF, FEF25, FEF75, and FEF2575) were recorded on the allotted note pad. 6.The procedures were repeated more than twice. Statistical analysis was done using Graph-pad prism statistical software version 8.1. Results were presented as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM). Paired student t-test was used to compare the mean of pre-exercise and post-exercise values and a P value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The result of this study has no significant change in post-exercise when compared with pre-exercise in adult young female individuals. Based on the result obtained from this study, it was observed that the 6-minute walk test has no significant change on pulmonary function test parameter (such as FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC%, PEF, FEF25, FEF75, and FEF2575) in females.
