Therapeutic application of a cold chest pack in bronchial asthma.

Abstract

In natural medicine, application of a cold chest pack for 30 min daily over a period of time is believed to improve lung functions in bronchial asthmatics. However there has been no scientific evaluation of this treatment. Hence the present study was carried out on 15 medication-free bronchial asthma patients (2 males) with ages from 19 to 42 years. The peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR, in l/min) was recorded before, during and after a 30 min application of a cold chest pack. This treatment was carried on for 21 days, during which the patients received other naturopathy treatments such as fasting, diet changes, hydrotherapy, massage, magnetotherapy, color therapy and application of mud packs, along with yoga therapy. The PEFR and symptom scores of the patients were assessed on Days 1 and 21. The results were analyzed using a two factor ANOVA and paired-t-test, which showed a significant increase in the PEFR recorded on Day 21 compared to Day 1 values, as well as immediately after the chest pack compared to the before values on day 21. Also, the symptom scores have significantly reduced following the 21 days of naturopathy treatment. The results suggest that (I) an application of a cold chest pack increases the PEFR as an immediate effect and (ii) this effect is augmented following 21 days of other naturopathy treatments along with yoga.