Respiratory physiotherapy in idiopathic Parkinsons disease: case report

Abstract

Respiratory dysfunctions occur in great part of patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (IPD) in advanced stages, leading to a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. The main goal in this study was to present the evolution of a patient with IPD in the IV stage of Hoehn and Yahr scale, in which physical therapy was specifically directed to respiratory disfunctions. The patient has undergone respiratory physiotherapy during five months. He was submitted to pulmonary function tests (spirometry and maximal respiratory pressures assessment) before and after the treatment period. There was improvement of the respiratory function with better values of forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, expiratory flow peak, maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressures and maximal voluntary ventilation. The patient showed great improvement in respiratory symptoms and function tests after physiotherapy directed to respiratory dysfunctions.