Effects of Ujjayi Pranayama Trainning on Selected Ventilatory Function Test in Patients with Mild Bronchial Asthma

Background: Bronchial asthma is a common disease and an important cause of morbidity among both children and adults. Ujjayi Pranayama Training (UPT) is a technique of controlling and modulating breath, a process through which one attains a state of deep rest, yet active state of mind.Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of 2-months Ujjayi Pranayama Training (UPT) program on Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and Forced Expiratory Volume in first second (FEV1) as well as the ratio FEV1/FVC in patients with mild asthma.Participants: Forty patients (25 men and 15 women) who suffered from mild bronchial asthma for at least 8 years participated in this study. Patients were randomly assigned into; experimental group (Group A) that included 20 asthmatic patients (12 men and 8 women), age (35.85±2.99) and control group (Group B) that included 20 asthmatic patients (13 men and 7 women), age (34.80±3.44).Methods: In both groups patients received Diaphragmatic Breathing (DB) exercise and asthmatic medications. Experi-mental group received UPT in addition to other interventions. Exercises in both groups were done for 3 sessions weekly over 8 weeks. The two groups were evaluated pre-training and after 2 months of training by using computerized spirom-eter for measuring Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in first second (FEV1) and their ratio FEV1/FVC.Results: The experimental group showed that there is significant increase in both forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in first second than the control group (p 0.05). Both groups significantly improved in all parameters after 2 months.Conclusions: This study showed that UPT, combined with medical treatment and diaphragmatic breathing exercise improve FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC% in patients with mild bronchial asthma.