Improvements in Perimeter Thoracic Mobility on Patients with COPD after Pulmonary Rehabilitation: A Case Series

Purpose: To evaluate if the perimeter thoracic mobility (PTM) improvements could be identified by measuring its perimeter during pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), searching for its correlations with standards clinical and functional assessments. Design: A case series. Methods: Twenty patients underwent a PR and accessed the arterial blood gas analyses, FVC, FEV1, FEV/FEV1, 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and the PTM measurement assessed at the angle of the Louis level and the xiphoid process level. Results: PR improved PTM on the angle of Louis (p=0.03) but not on the xiphoid process. These improvements are negatively correlated with improvements in PaCO2. Conclusions: In COPD patients, a successful PR is accompanied by a reduction of the upper chest wall resting perimeter and by an improvement of the perimeter thoracic mobility. Clinical relevance: The centimeter tape is a useful device able to identify PTM improvements in COPD patients.