Muscle energy technique for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A feasibility study

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a manual therapy technique (muscle energy technique, MET) protocol in a hospital pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program for patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods: Participants aged 40 years and over, with moderate to severe COPD, were recruited into this 12 -week study. The primary outcome measures were feasibility (acceptability of the intervention and atten-dance/adherence to the trial) and safety (adverse events, AEs). All participants received the MET and PR therapies. Participants and assessors were unblinded. Semi-standardized MET was delivered on 6 occa-sions (a maximum of once per week) at the hospital directly before a PR session. Participants undertook PR sessions as per the hospital program at a frequency of two days per week for 8 weeks. Participants were contacted 4 weeks after their final MET treatment via a telephone call to assess acceptability of the intervention.Results: Thirty-three participants were enrolled, with a median age of 74 years (range 45-89 years). The median number of MET sessions that participants attended was 5 (range 0-6) out of a possible 6 sessions (83% attendance). At follow-up, participants overwhelmingly enjoyed the MET treatment with some sub-jectively reporting improved breathing. There were no major AEs related to the intervention, with the majority of AEs classified as expected events related to COPD exacerbations.Conclusion: It is feasible to implement a manual therapy protocol using MET as an adjunct to PR in a hos-pital setting. Recruitment rates were satisfactory and there were no AEs related to the MET component of the intervention. Please cite this article as: Baxter DA, Coyle ME, Hill CJ, Worsnop C, Shergis JL. Muscle energy technique for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A feasibility study. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(3): 245-253.& COPY; 2023 Shanghai Yueyang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing a manual therapy technique (muscle energy technique, MET) in a hospital pulmonary rehabilitation program for patients with moderate to severe COPD. The results showed that it is feasible to use MET as an adjunct to PR in a hospital setting, with satisfactory recruitment rates and no adverse events related to the MET component of the intervention.