38th Annual Student Research Conference
The Braiding Technique Does Not Promote Abdominal Breathing
Jeffrey K. Laubscher*, Ben Grandstaff, Isaac Compton, and Haili Klusman
Dr. Fred Shaffer, Faculty Mentor
Braiding, placing the hands behind the neck, is used to straighten the spine to open the chest and reduce thoracic tension. This maneuver aims to relax accessory respiratory muscles and shift participants from thoracic to abdominal breathing. We examined its effectiveness in promoting abdominal breathing. We randomly assigned 23 undergraduates to one of two orders of 5-min spontaneous breathing with and without braiding, separated by a 3-min buffer period. We instructed participants to exhale through the nostrils to monitor end-tidal CO2. A Thought Technology ProComp Infiniti ™ system monitored ECG, HRV, and respiration. A PhysioCom Design GA-1 CO2 Analyzer measured end-tidal CO2. All study variables met the assumptions for a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA. Breathing condition (resting or braiding) was the withinparticipants variable, and order was the between-participants variable. We observed no benefit of braiding. Future research should validate these findings with larger samples in diverse populations and clinical contexts.
Keywords:
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 104-3
Location: SUB Georgian A
Time: 9:15