Article

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of inspiratory and expiratory muscle
training on pulmonary functions in patients with slowly progressive neuromuscular
disease. DESIGN: Prospective randomized controlled double-blinded study. SETTING:
Chest diseases clinic of university hospital. SUBJECTS: Twenty-six patients with
slowly progressive neuromuscular disease followed for respiratory problems were
included in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups;
experimental (n = 14; age 31.6 +/-12.3 years) and sham (n = 12; age 26.5 +/-8.6
years) groups. METHODS: Spirometry, peak cough flow, maximal inspiratory
pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, and sniff nasal inspiratory pressure were
measured before the eighth week of study, and subsequently at end of it.
Respiratory muscle training was performed by inspiratory (Threshold Inspiratory
Muscle Trainer) and expiratory (Threshold Positive Expiratory Pressure) threshold
loading methods. Training intensities were increased according to maximal
inspiratory and expiratory pressures in the experimental group, while the lowest
loads were used for training in the sham group. Patients performed 15 minutes
inspiratory muscle training and 15 minutes expiratory muscle training, twice a
day, five days/week, for a total of eight weeks at home. Training intensity was
adjusted in the training group once a week. RESULTS: Maximal inspiratory and
expiratory pressures (cmH2O, % predicted) (respectively p = 0.002, p = 0.003, p =
0.04, p = 0.03) and sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (p = 0.04) were improved in
the experimental group when compared with the sham group. However, there was no
improvement in spirometric measurements when groups were compared (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: As a conclusion of our study, we found that respiratory muscle
strength improved by inspiratory and expiratory muscle training in patients with
slowly progressive neuromuscular disease.
CI - (c) The Author(s) 2013.

Langue : ANGLAIS