Comparative Study of Pulmonary Functions in Swimmers and Sedentary Controls

Background: Swimming has many benefits on the body. Swimming engages practically all muscle groups; hence O2 utilization for the muscle is higher in swimmers. The water pressure on the thorax makes the respiration difficult. Breathing is not as free during swimming as compared to most other types of exercises. Respiratory responses to swimming may be expected to be different from the response to many other types of exercises. Aims & Objective: To study the pulmonary functions in competitive swimmers and to compare the same with matched sedentary control group. Materials and Methods: In this study pulmonary functions such as FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, MVV, PEFR parameters were studied in 45 Swimmers in the age group of 1825 years. These parameters were compared with those recorded in equal number of matched apparently normal healthy sedentary medical students using unpaired t test. Results: In our study a very highly significant increase (P<0.0001) was observed in pulmonary function parameters of swimmers than controls. Swimmer group were having higher mean of percentage value of Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) 2.83 ± 0.64, Forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) 2.61 ± 0.56, Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) 152.64 ± 17.49 , and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) 8.59 ± 0.84 than controls. However the ratio between FEV1 and FVC (99.69 ± 1.01) was just significantly more (P=0.0330) in controls than swimmers. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that exercise in the form of swimming produces a significant improvement in the pulmonary function. The improvement in pulmonary function could be due to increased strength of respiratory muscles. So swimming can be recommended so as to improve the lung function of an individual and swimming in milder form might help in rehabilitation of patients with impaired pulmonary function.