Therapeutic effectiveness of specialized core mobilization exercise on cardiopulmonary function in open-heart surgery patients: A randomized control trial with single-blind study.

BACKGROUND: To compare the effects of conventional cardiopulmonary physical therapy (CCPT) and specialized core mobilization exercise (SCME) on cardiopulmonary function and functional difficulties in patients after open-heart surgery. METHODS: This randomized controlled, single-blind study used repeated-measures analysis of variance to examine time and group interaction effects across multiple postoperative assessment points. A post hoc Tukey test was performed when significant effects were identified. The study was conducted at the Myongji Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Center from June 2022 to July 2023 and included 37 patients (mean age = 66.1 ± 11.4 years) who were randomly assigned to the CCPT or SCME group. RESULTS: Compared with CCPT, SCME resulted in greater improvements in peak oxygen consumption, metabolic equivalents, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, maximal voluntary ventilation (P < .05), and Functional Difficulties Questionnaire scores (P < .01). CONCLUSION: SCME demonstrated superior effects on peak oxygen consumption, selected pulmonary function parameters, and functional thoracic mobility compared with CCPT in patients after open-heart surgery.