Marwa Ali Almasry^1,, Neama Mamdouh Mostafa¹, Eman Hessien Heggy²

Background: Pulmonary complications after stroke contribute significantly to a poor stroke outcome. Early in hospital pulmonary complications of stroke patients can be reduced by chest physiotherapy exercises .The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chest physiotherapy on reducing pulmonary complications among stroke patients. Methodology: A quasi-experimental research design was used in this study. The study was conducted in the neurological departments at Assiut University Hospital. The study included 60 adult stroke patients from the acute stage (2 Days) of admission to the hospital until discharge time. The sample was divided into two equal groups. Study and control group (30 patients each). Two tools used to collect data include, patient assessment sheet, pulmonary complication assessment sheet. Results: In the control group was 66.7% while pneumonia in the study group was 23.3% after the application of physical therapy exercises to the chest. Conclusion: Applying chest physiotherapy exercises had a statistically significant effect on reducing pulmonary complications among study group than the control group. Recommendations: Successful chest-program physiotherapy exercises should be implemented as early as the time of hospitalization for each stroke patient.

stroke, chest physiotherapy exercises, pulmonary complications