The Effect of Body Position on Pulmonary Function

We were interested to read the findings of a study from Katz et al. (2018) exploring the influence of body positioning on pulmonary functions tests (PFTs). The results show that body positioning affects the results of PFTs, but the optimal position and significance of the benefit differs between study populations.

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Kartz et al. recommend that “the supine position should be considered in addition to sitting for PFTs in patients with SCI and neuromuscular disease. When treating patients with heart, lung, SCI, neuromuscular disease, or obesity, one should take into consideration that pulmonary physiology and function are influenced by body position.”