Abstract

Background: Asthma is increasingly prevalent worldwide and still could not be effectively controlled with drug therapy alone. Non-pharmacological interventions such as yoga and pranayama were tried with promising results. Mudras are part of yoga tradition and it is said that specific hand postures stimulate cortical areas regulating autonomic nervous system (ANS). The present study aims to find out the role of lung-specific mudras alone in improving respiratory function by modulating the ANS.

Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) To measure the effect of lung-specific yoga mudras on peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), breath-holding time (BHT), Snider’s test (ST), expiratory blast test (EBT), and respiratory endurance test (RET) in the study group after 6 weeks of mudra practice. (2) To measure and compare the PERR, BHT, ST, EBT, and RET values of control group with that of the study group after 6 weeks of mudra practice.

Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on 50 stable asthma patients in the age group of 20–50 years who were randomly divided into control (n = 25) and study group (n = 25). The study group underwent mudra practice everyday for 30 min and 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Respiratory efficiency tests were measured before and after 6 weeks using peak flow meter and mercury sphygmomanometer. The tests include PEFR, BHT, ST, EBT, and RET.

Results: Statistically significant improvement (

Key words: Lung Mudras; Respiration; Asthmatics