Benefit of triple-strap abdominal binder on voluntary cough in patients with spinal cord injury.

STUDY

DESIGN

A cross-sectional experimental study.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to examine the benefit of elastic abdominal binders on voluntary cough in persons with spinal cord injury.

SETTING

Spinal rehabilitation unit in a teaching hospital.

METHODS

We measured voluntary cough peak expiratory flow rate (in 21 subjects with spinal cord injury, (18 tetraplegia, 3 paraplegia) under three conditions: without abdominal binder as the baseline, with single-strap abdominal binder and triple-strap abdominal binder.

RESULTS

The results showed that the mean cough peak expiratory flow rate in all subjects without abdominal binder was 277.1 l per min. There was a significant increase in flow rate with the use of abdominal binders: 325.7 l per min with single-strap abdominal binder and 345.2 l per min with triple-strap abdominal binder (P<0.05, paired t-test). The mean cough peak expiratory flow rate in tetraplegic subjects using triple-strap abdominal binders was significantly higher compared with those using single-strap abdominal binders (322.1 l per min and 299.4 l per min, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Abdominal binders can be used as an effective method to improve cough ability in spinal cord injured patients, with triple-strap abdominal binder achieving greater cough peak expiratory flows.