Studies on Respiratory Movements

I. Respiratory Types in Japanese

Abstract

Respiratory movements are carried on mainly by intercostal muscles and diaphragm. They are classified into two types, “ costal ” and “ abdominal or diaphragmatic ”. The former type is dominant in the activities of intercostal muscles and the latter is in that of diaphragm.
Hutchinson studied respiratory movements chiefly by his sense of touch in subjects seated and divested of clothing. He found that costal respiration is the normal quiet breathing of women and abdomical respiration is of men.
No study has been made on the respiratory types in Japanese. So the author. tried to clarify the respiratory types in supine, sitting and standing positions. Belt pneumographs were attached to the chest and abdomen of the subjects. From the pneumograms recorded on smoked drums, respiratory movements were classified in three types:
1. percentage of the respiration types is shown on the following table.
2. Abdominal type was observed in larger part of Japanese subjects.
3. The fact that respiratory type of female is costal is not applicable to young Japanese females.
4. Subjects of costal type increased when they changed position from supine to sitting or standing.