Immediate Effect of Nadishodhana Pranayama on Functional Mobility in Stroke Patients

Objective: To determine the immediate effect of nadishodhana pranayama on performance of a clinical functional mobility task in stroke patients. Design: Experimental, within subject, pre and post design. Setting: Tertiary Care Hospital and Research Centre. Participants: 16 Stroke patients consisting of 11 males and 5 females with an average age of 51 ± 12.43 (S.D) yrs. Intervention: Nadishodhana Pranayama was administered to ambulatory stroke patients in a quiet, spacious, well-lit room. Functional mobility was assessed before and immediately after the practise of Pranayama. Main outcome measure: Timed up and Go test (TUGT) Results: The average Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) time in seconds was 33.43 ± 19.56 before and 26.06 ± 20.69 after the practice of Nadishodhana Pranayama. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was applied to this data which proved the difference to be extremely significant (p<0.00001). Conclusion: Practice of Nadishodhana Pranayama significantly improves the efficiency of performance of a functional mobility task in stroke patients immediately.