RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Chest wall mobility is related to respiratory muscle strength and lung volumes in healthy subjects JF Respiratory Care FD American Association for Respiratory Care SP respcare.02415 DO 10.4187/respcare.02415 A1 Lanza, Fernanda de Cordoba A1 de Camargo, Anderson A1 Archija, Lilian Rocha Ferraz A1 Selman, Jessyca Pachi Rodrigues A1 Malaguti, Carla A1 Dal Corso, Simone YR 2013 UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/05/14/respcare.02415.abstract AB Background: chest wall mobility is often used in clinical practice, but is not determined it's correlation with respiratory muscle strength and lung volumes. Objective: to investigate the association between chest wall mobility, axilary (Cax) and thoracic cirtometry (Cthor), respiratory muscle strength (maximal inspiratory pressure – PImax, maximal expiratory pressure - PEmax) and lung volumes (expiratory reserve volume - ERV, forced expiratory volume in the first second - FEV1, inspiratory capacity - IC, forced vital capacity - FVC), and secondarily to investigate the determinants of chest mobility in healthy subjects. Methods: 64 healthy volunteers; spirometry was performed to determine: IC, FVC, FEV1 and ERV. PImax and PEmax were evaluated using a manometer to measure pressure at the mouth. Chest wall mobility was performed at axillary and thoracic levels using a measuring tape. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of some variables on chest wall mobility. Result: the volunteers were 24 ± 3 years old, Cax was 6.3 ± 2.0 cm, Cthor was 7.5 ± 2.3 cm. Respiratory pressures were PImax: −90.4±10.6% pred; PEmax: +92.8±13.5% pred. Lung function IC: 99.7 ± 8.6% pred, FVC: 101.9 ± 10.6% pred, FEV1: 98.2 ± 10.3% pred; ERV: 90.9 ± 19.9% pred. There was significant correlation between Cax and FVC, FEV1, PImax, PEmax, IC (r: 0.32, r: 0.30, r: 0.48, r: 0.25, r: 0.24, respectively) and between Cthor and FVC, FEV1, PImax, PEmax, IC, ERV (r: 0.50, r: 0.48, r: 0.46, r: 0.37, r: 0.39, r: 0.47, respectively). In multiple regression analysis the variable that best explained the Cax variation was PImax (R2: 0.23), and for Cthor was FVC and PImax (R2: 0.32). Conclusions: chest mobility in healthy subjects is related to respiratory muscle strength and lung function, thus the higher the Cax and Cthor greater PImax, PEmax, and lung volumes in healthy subjects.