Benefit of triple-strap abdominal binder on voluntary cough in patients with spinal cord injury

Study design: A cross-sectional experimental study. Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the benefit of elastic abdominal binders on voluntary cough in persons with spinal cord injury. Setting: Spinal rehabilitation unit in a teaching hospital. Methods: We measured voluntary cough peak expiratory flow rate (in 21 subjects with spinal cord injury, (18 tetraplegia, 3 paraplegia) under three conditions: without abdominal binder as the baseline, with single-strap abdominal binder and triple-strap abdominal binder. Results: The results showed that the mean cough peak expiratory flow rate in all subjects without abdominal binder was 277.1 l per min. There was a significant increase in flow rate with the use of abdominal binders: 325.7 l per min with single-strap abdominal binder and 345.2 l per min with triple-strap abdominal binder ( P