Effects of expiratory muscle training for elderly patients under long-term care

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an expiratory muscle training （EMT）program on swallowing, tongue pressure and thickness, labial closure force, spirometry, and respiratory pressure in elderly patients under long-term care. The subjects were twenty elderly inpatients without dementia or dysphagia, who were under long-term care at the health facility of a hospital in Tokushima prefecture. They were randomly assigned to one of the two groups, the sham EMT group and the active EMT group. The improvement rates of SVC, %FVC, PEF, %PEF, MEP, %MEP and MIP were significantly different between two groups （p< 0.01）. The EMT program was well-tolerated and led to improvements in respiratory function and muscle strength other than swallowing indices in elderly patients under long-term care. These results may contribute to the prevention and treatment of aspiration pneumonia in elderly individuals under long-term care.