PURPOSE Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a rehabilitation therapy for stable patients with COPD. However, its therapeutic effect remains undefined due to the unclear nature of diaphragmatic mobilization during IMT. Diaphragmatic mobilization, represented by transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi), and neural respiratory drive, expressed as the corrected root mean square (RMS) of the diaphragmatic...

Pulmonary impairments have long been recognized as major causes of morbidity and mortality in individuals with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS). This study was designed to determine if a 10-week home exercise inspiratory training program in community-dwelling persons with MS improves pulmonary muscle strength and endurance. Forty-six ambulatory individuals with clinically diagnosed MS [Expanded...

The effects of adding L-carnitine to a whole-body and respiratory training program were determined in moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Sixteen COPD patients (66 +/- 7 years) were randomly assigned to L-carnitine (CG) or placebo group (PG) that received either L-carnitine or saline solution (2 g/day, orally) for 6 weeks (forced expiratory volume on first ...

In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the intensity of aerobic training is limited by dyspnea. Improving strength of the inspiratory muscles could enhance aerobic exercise training by reducing exercise-related dyspnea. We examined effects of home-based inspiratory muscle training (IMT) and cycle ergometry training (CET) in 53 patients with moderate to severe COPD (FEV(1)...

INTRODUCTION Chronic kidney disease associated with hemodialysis can have a variety of musculoskeletal complications, in addition to repercussions in pulmonary function. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of inspiratory muscle training on inspiratory muscle strength, pulmonary function, and functional capacity in patients with chronic kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis. METHOD Non-contro...

The recent study by Vašíčová et al. (2017) described novel findings that respiratory muscle training (RMT) improved respiratory muscle strength and swimming performance in an apnea-max swim test in young finswimmers. These positive findings are largely compatible with established literature demonstrating increases in respiratory muscle strength following RMT (HajGhanbari et al., 2013; Illi et a...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cough protects the lungs from aspiration. We investigated whether respiratory muscle training may improve respiratory muscle and cough function, and potentially reduce pneumonia risk in acute stroke. METHODS We conducted a single-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial in 82 patients with stroke (mean age, 64±14 years; 49 men) within 2 weeks of stroke onset. Participa...