Effects of telerehabilitation-based respiratory and corrective exercises among the elderly with thoracic hyper-kyphosis: a clinical trial

Abstract

Background Aging is associated with changes in the musculoskeletal system, including increased susceptibility to spine malalignments. Utilizing corrective exercises with a therapeutic emphasis can be beneficial in the elderly with thoracic spine hyperkyphosis. Objective This study aimed to investigate the effects of six weeks of telerehabilitation-based respiratory and corrective exercises on quality of life, disability, thoracic kyphosis, craniovertebral angle, shoulder angle, cranial angle, and chest expansion in the elderly with thoracic spine hyperkyphosis. Methods In this clinical trial, a total of 40 participants aged 60 and above with thoracic hyperkyphosis were randomly divided into the control (N = 20) and experimental (N = 20) groups. The experimental group performed the corrective exercises for six weeks (3 sessions per week). The control group performed general stretching exercises during the same time period. We measured the outcomes of quality of life, disability, thoracic kyphosis, craniovertebral angle, shoulder angle, cranial angle, and lung expansion before and after the intervention. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to analyze the data. A P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Quality of life (P < 0.001, Effect Size (ES): 0.44), chest expansion (P < 0.001, ES: 0.56), thoracic kyphosis angle (P < 0.001, ES: 0.31), craniovertebral (P < 0.001, ES: 0.33), cranial (P < 0.001, ES: 0.38), and shoulder (P = 0.005, ES: 0.20) angles were significantly improved in the experimental group as compared with controls. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of physical ability (P = 0.251, ES: 0.04). Conclusion It is therefore recommended that online corrective exercises be used in the rehabilitation protocol to improve the quality of life, posture, chest expansion, and disability in the elderly with thoracic kyphosis.

Effect of adding diaphragmatic breathing to corrective exercises on kyphotic angle and diaphragmatic excursion in postmenopausal kyphotic women: A randomized controlled trial

“…Prior exercise research in age-related hyperkyphosis has primarily focused on outcomes such as posture, pain, and QoL (Bansal et al, 2014;Katzman et al, 2016Katzman et al, , 2017Li et al, 2023), often neglecting critical respiratory functions such as diaphragmatic excursion, essential for adequate lung function and overall elderly health. While a recent study highlighted the benefits of combining respiratory and corrective exercises in improving chest expansion (Eftekhari et al, 2024), there is a lack of research directly comparing the effects of adding diaphragmatic breathing exercises versus corrective exercises alone on diaphragmatic excursion in patients with age-related hyperkyphosis. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap by comparing the effects of corrective exercises alone versus combined with diaphragmatic breathing exercises on kyphosis angle, diaphragmatic excursion, thoracic pain, and QoL in postmenopausal kyphotic women.…”