ABSTRACT
Respiratory muscle strength is evaluated by manovacuometry, which provides two measures: inspiratory muscle strength and expiratory muscle strength. During immersion in a pool, pulmonary function changes in such a way as to interfere in length and in the activities of the respiratory muscles. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the respiratory muscle strength, in healthy individuals, exercised in soil and in therapeutic swimming pool with the chest immersed in water. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study conducted between August and November 2016. Twenty-four scholars of the Physical therapy course of the Universidade Luterana do Brasil (Ulbra) from Canoas participated in the study and were evaluated by manovacuometry in the soil and in the pool. When compared with inspiratory pressures, we observed that after a minute with the chest immersed there was no statically significant difference in relation to the soil. However, after 20 minutes of immersion, a significant increase in the inspiratory pressure was found. For expiratory pressure, on the other hand, the difference between the conditions analyzed was not significant. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. We concluded that the permanence of 20 minutes with the chest immersed in warm water increased inspiratory muscle strength and did not modify the expiratory muscle strength.
Keywords:
Hydrotherapy; Immersion; Respiratory System; Respiratory Function Tests.
