Women’s Respiratory Movements during Spontaneous Breathing and Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional, Correlational Study

Wen-Ming Liang (), Zhen-Min Bai, Maiwulamu Aihemaiti, Lei Yuan, Zhi-Min Hong, Jing Xiao, Fei-Fei Ren and Osvaldas Rukšėnas
Additional contact information
Wen-Ming Liang: Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Zhen-Min Bai: School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Maiwulamu Aihemaiti: School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Lei Yuan: School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhi-Min Hong: School of Science, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
Jing Xiao: Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Xiyuan Hospital, Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China
Fei-Fei Ren: Department of Physical Education, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China
Osvaldas Rukšėnas: Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: Background: Abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing exercises are popular worldwide and have been proven to be beneficial for physical performance. Is abdominal motion (AM) during spontaneous breathing correlated with physical fitness? The present study aimed to answer this question. Methods: 434 women (aged 20–59) were enrolled and participated in respiration tests using two respiration belts (one was tied at the height of the xiphoid and another at the navel) to detect AM and thoracic motion (TM). They also performed physical fitness tests to measure body size, muscular strength, muscular power, muscular endurance, balance, flexibility, reaction time, and cardiorespiratory endurance. Results: All the correlation coefficients between respiratory movements (AM, TM, AM + TM, AM/(AM + TM)) and physical fitness outcomes were less than 0.4/−0.4. Only AM and muscular power (countermovement jump height) had a weak correlation, with a correlation coefficient close to 0.4 in the 20−29-year age group (r s = 0.398, p = 0.011, n = 40). Conclusions: Women’s respiratory movements during spontaneous breathing were not correlated with physical fitness. Future studies may focus on the relationship between AM and countermovement jump height in young women with a larger sample size and using ultrasound to directly test the excursion of the diaphragm.

Keywords: abdominal motion; thoracic motion; physical performance; countermovement jump height; cardiorespiratory endurance; body size (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12007/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12007/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12007-:d:922348

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().