The effects of spine kyphosis on the pulmonary function and physical activity of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the influence of spine kyphotic deformity on postmenopausal osteoporosis patients' pulmonary function and physical activity,and then provide a guide for the rehabilitation training of patients with osteoporosis and a kyphotic spine.Methods Sixty postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were recruited from the osteoporosis outpatients of the Third Hospital of Peking University.Half of them suffered from spine kyphosis (the spine kyphosis group) and the other half did not (the non-spine kyphosis group).There was no significant difference in the average ages and body mass indexes of the two groups.The research applied Cobb's angle and wall-occiput distance (WOD) to assess kyphosis severity,a visual analogue scale (VAS) to evaluate the patient's pain level,plus pulmonary function assessments and thoracic expansion assessments in both groups simultaneously,and the 6-minute walking test (6-MWT) to assess the patients' physical activity.Results The spine kyphosis group said they experienced significantly more pain than the non-kyphosis group,and they had worse pulmonary function and poorer physical activity.These differences were statistically significant.Pulmonary function was significantly correlated with the severity of spine kyphosis,back ache,thoracic expansion as well as physical activity.Conclusion Spine kyphosis deformity can aggravate back ache among postmenopausal osteoporosis patients,and affect their pulmonary function and physical activity.When planning clinical exercise training for such patients,physicians should pay attention to respiratory function training so as to improve the patients' pulmonary function,physical activity and endurance as much as possible,and thus improve their quality of life.