Respiratory and cardiovascular responses to manual chest percussion in normal subjects

The respiratory and cardiovascular responses to manual chest percussion were studied in seven naive healthy subjects. Percussion during quiet breathing, percussion with thoracic expansion exercises (TEE) and TEE alone were applied to subjects in side-lying. Inspired volume, oxygen consumption, oxygen saturation, heart rate and blood pressure were measured before, during and after each technique. Significant increases in inspired volume and heart rate occurred with all three techniques (p < 0.01). Oxygen consumption increased with all three techniques however only the increases during percussion with TEE, and TEE alone were significant (p < 0.01). Oxygen saturation increased with percussion with TEE and TEE alone (p < 0.01). No significant changes in blood pressure were observed.