Effects of physiotherapy interventions on peak flow rate respiratory volumes and stimulation of cough
| Intervention | Subjects n | PEFR L·s−1 | PIFR L·s−1 | PEFR/PIFR | VI L | VE L | Coughs stimulated |
| Vibration | 17¶ | 1.58±0.73 | 1.06±0.27 | 1.51 | 1.78±0.87 | 2.44±1.06 | 0.7±1.0 |
| Percussion | 18 | 0.83±0.14*** | 0.84±0.10 | 0.99 | 0.91±0.37*** | 1.03±0.50 | 0.5±0.9 |
| PEP | 18 | 0.44±0.15*** | 0.96±0.20 | 0.47 | 1.64±0.40 | 1.96±0.57 | 0.5±0.6 |
| Flutter® | 17¶ | 1.13±0.30# | 1.05±0.27 | 1.15 | 1.62±0.52 | 1.81±0.57 | 0.4±0.7 |
| Acapella® | 18 | 0.59±0.08*** | 0.98±0.27 | 0.64 | 1.55±0.46 | 1.68±0.50 | 0.8±1.0 |
| TLCrelax | 15+ | 0.66±0.16 | 1.01±0.40 | 0.73 | 1.79±0.66 | 2.24±0.79 | 0 |
Data are presented as mean±sd of means of each subject, unless otherwise stated. PEFR: peak expiratory flow rate; PIFR: peak inspiratory flow rate; VI: inspiratory volume; VE: expiratory volume; PEP: peak expiratory pressure; TLCrelax: total lung capacity positive expiration. ¶: data lost due to technical difficulties (data from different interventions lost in different subjects); +: data only collected from stated number of subjects. p-values are significantly different from vibration. ***: p<0.001; #: p = 0.002.