Effect of iliopsoas muscle release on diaphragm excursion in asymptomatic healthy individuals: A randomized pilot study

BACKGROUND: As the diaphragm and iliopsoas shares a common connection at 2 lumbar vertebrae if the three is alteration in length of iliopsoas may affect also affect the pulmonary function directly or indirectly. Therefore, as there is lack of literature available on iliopsoas muscle release result on diaphragm excursion in asymptomatic healthy individuals which needs to be survey. AIM: The aim of study was to find effect of iliopsoas muscle release on diaphragm mobility in asymptomatic healthy individuals. METHODOLOGY: In this study 118 subject were screened out of those only 30 females’ subjects were recruited by purposive sampling method and assigned randomly into experimental group and control group. The demographic data and measurement of height, weight was recorded and the BMI was calculated by standard formula in SPSS toll. The modified Thomas test is use to assess iliopsoas muscle tightness. The pre and post diaphragm excursion examined by diagnostic ultrasonography. DATA ANALYSIS: The statistical analysis of data was done by using the SPSS tool. The data normality was checked through Shapiro-Wilk Test and the descriptive statistics had shown in median interquartile range (IQR) statistics of significance in between the group was estimated by the Mann-Whitney U test meanwhile within group statistics was estimated by the Wilcoxon test. The level of significance had defined p&lt;0.05. RESULT: The result of the study shows a significant improvement on diaphragm excursion (p-value=0.01) reveal the positive result in between the group but in within the experimental group shows highly significant result in hip flexor length and diaphragm mobility (P&lt;0.05) by release of iliopsoas muscle rather than control group and the result of study shows the strong positive correlation between the hip flexor tightness and diaphragm excursion. CONCLUSION: The Myofascial release therapy on iliopsoas muscle is effective in improving the diaphragm mobility.背景：膈肌与髂腰肌（iliopsoas）在第2腰椎处存在共同连接，若髂腰肌长度发生改变，可能会直接或间接影响肺功能。目前尚无针对无症状健康个体中髂腰肌松解术对膈肌移动度影响的相关文献报道，亟需开展相关调研。 研究目的：本研究旨在探讨髂腰肌松解术对无症状健康个体膈肌移动度的影响。 研究方法：本研究共筛选118名受试者，最终通过目的抽样法纳入30名女性受试者，并采用随机分组法将其分为实验组与对照组。收集受试者人口学资料，测量身高、体重，采用SPSS工具（SPSS）通过标准公式计算身体质量指数（BMI）。采用改良托马斯试验（Modified Thomas test）评估髂腰肌紧张程度。通过诊断超声（Diagnostic ultrasonography）检测受试者干预前后的膈肌移动度。 数据分析：采用SPSS工具进行统计学分析。通过夏皮罗-威尔克检验（Shapiro-Wilk Test）检验数据正态性，描述性统计以中位数四分位数间距（IQR）呈现；组间比较采用曼-惠特尼U检验（Mann-Whitney U test），组内比较采用威尔科克森检验（Wilcoxon test）。本研究设定显著性水平为p<0.05。 研究结果：本研究结果显示，组间比较显示膈肌移动度存在显著改善（p=0.01），提示组间差异具有统计学意义；实验组经髂腰肌松解术后，其髋屈肌长度与膈肌移动度均得到极显著改善（P<0.05），优于对照组；此外，本研究发现髋屈肌紧张程度与膈肌移动度之间存在显著正相关关系。 结论：髂腰肌肌筋膜松解术（Myofascial release therapy）可有效改善无症状健康个体的膈肌移动度。