EFFECTS OF FUNCTIONAL EXERCISE ON PULMONARY FUNCTION IN HEALTHY YOUNG MALE ADULTS

ABSTRACT

The respiratory system plays a fundamental role in human physiology, facilitating the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, which is crucial for sustaining life. Physical activity and exercise have long been recognized as essential components of a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercise offers a wide range of benefits, including improvements in cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal function, and overall well-being. Additionally, exercise has been shown to have positive effects on pulmonary function, particularly in individuals with respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. The 6MWT is frequently used by healthcare professionals to evaluate patients' functional exercise capacity and assess their ability to perform daily activities and yet, the specific effects of this test on pulmonary function parameters in males are not well-documented This study was aimed at determining the effects of functional exercise in pulmonary function in males using a 6-minute walk test (6MWT). 52 adults’ males were the study population for this research. The specific objective of this study is to assess the effect of the forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in 1 sec (FEV1), FEV1 as a percentage of FVC (FEV1/FVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), rate of airflow of forced expiratory at 25% (FEF25) and 75% (FEF75) and the average rate of airflow of forced expiratory between 25% and 75% (FEF25-75) in pre and post functional exercise in males. The Statistical analysis was done using a GraphPad Prism Version 8.1. Results were presented as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM). Paired student t-test was used to compare the mean of pre-exercise and post-exercise values and a P value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The result of this study has some significant changes in post-exercise when compared with pre-exercise in adult young male individuals. In conclusion, the results of this study indicates that the 6-minute walk test has some significant change on pulmonary function test parameters (such as FEV1, FEV1/FVC% and FEF2575) in males.