The Effect Of Short, Intermediate And Long Duration Of Swimming On Pulmonary Function Tests.

Abstract

Background & Objectives: As muscular strength can be increased by regular exercise, it was decided to study the effect of strenuous swimming on the pulmonary function tests, as it involves both, the total body muscular activity and excessive use of chest and abdominal muscles following periods of breath holding, which is a part of training for competitive swimmers. Methods: Selected lung volumes and capacities were determined on 60 swimmers of three different groups i.e. group I-swimming experience of less than 2 years, Group II-between 2 to 5 years, and Group III->5 years and compared with 60 controls. The purpose of the study is to find the effect of swimming for different duration on pulmonary function tests i.e. forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume (FEV 1), inspiratory Capacity (IC) And tidal Volume (TV) Result: Forced vital capacity (FVC), Forced expiratory volume (FEV 1), Inspiratory Capacity (IC) And Tidal Volume (TV) of controls with swimmers of group II and III there is statistically significant and statistically highly significant increase in values were observed respectively. Conclusion: The swimming exercise for intermediate and long duration of time i.e. more than two (2) years produces a significant improvement in the pulmonary functions. This improvement is directly proportional to the increased duration of swimming.