Effect of chest cage restriction on perception of added airflow resistance

The effect of restricting chest expansion on the detection of resistive loads added to inspiration was assessed in 6 healthy male subjects. Restriction was accomplished using an adjustable chest clamping device. Load detection scores obtained with and without chest clamping were plotted against deltaR and the Weber Fraction (deltaR/Ro), where deltaR is the added load and Ro is the initial resistive load (i.e. subject's R plus minimal R of the apparatus). Results indicate that restricting chest expansion does not alter the ability of healthy subjects to detect added inspiratory resistive loads. It is concluded that perception of such loads is not dependent upon sensory information from the chest wall.