Comparison of the Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing and Aerobic Exercise on Pulmonary Function of Recovered Female Patients from COVID-19 Infection in Zabol City

Various treatments have been proposed to improve the pulmonary function of patients with COVID-19. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of diaphragmatic breathing and aerobics exercises on the pulmonary function of patients recovered from COVID-19. This study was a semi-experimental with two exercise groups and one control group of recovered women from COVID-19 who attended to the pulmonary ward of Zabol healthcare centers in 2022. Thirty people (25-40 years) with 20 to 40% involvement were purposefully selected and randomly categorized into three groups diaphragmatic breathing training (n=10), aerobics exercise training (n=10), and control (n=10). The Shuttle test was applied to measure Vo2max and the spirometry was applied to measure pulmonary function indexes. The program of the training groups consisted of 3 sessions/week for eight weeks. The intra-group difference was studied using paired sample t-test method and the inter-group difference was evaluated based on one-way variance ANOVA analysis by SPSS software. Paired sample t-test results showed that values of Vo2max and pulmonary function indexes increased in the aerobics exercise group (PFEF<0.001), PFEV<0.001, PFVC<0.001, PVo2max<0.001) and diaphragmatic breathing group (PFEF=0.002, PFEV=0.001, PFVC<0.001, PVo2max<0.001), while the mean FEV1/FVC index following intervention did not change (Paerobics=0.92, Pdiaphragmatic=0.77). Results of one-way ANOVA showed an increase in Vo2max (P=0.001) and pulmonary function (PFEF=0.002, PFEV=0.002, PFVC=0.003) following aerobics exercise training more than diaphragmatic breathing. Both diaphragmatic breathing and aerobic exercise were effective in improving the pulmonary function of patients who recovered from COVID-19. However, the effects of aerobics exercise were more evident than diaphragmatic breathing.