Internationale Zeitschrift für Physikalische Medizin und Rehabilitation
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A Comparison between Two Types of Resistive Inspiratory Muscle Training Devices in Normal Subjects in Regards to Pulmonary Functions

Nora Sulaiman Alwohayeb, Bushra Ali Alenazi, Fay Ali Albuainain and Mashail Mamdouh Alrayes

Introduction: Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) devices improve respiratory muscle strength, endurance and exercise capacity on healthy subjects. Because of the limited availability of the effect of IMT devices on healthy subjects with minimal activity level, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of POWERbreath-plus^® and Threshold IMT^® on healthy subjects by measuring pre and post Maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), Maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) and Mandatory Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) and to compare their effectiveness.

Method: In this quantitative comparative pilot study, 17 female subjects from Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University were randomly assigned into four weeks of IMT program and were distributed into three groups Threshold Group (TG) (n=5), POWERbreath-plus Group (PG) (n=7) and Control Group (CG) (n=5). MIP, MEP, PEFR, MVV were measured prior and following training. Subjects were taught to use the device twice daily with 30 repetitions at 60% of their MIP at the first two weeks with gradual increase by 10% for the remaining two weeks, until reaching load of 80% of MIP.

Results: MIP was improved significantly in both, TG and PG (p=0.005 and p=0.006, respectively), while no change was noticed in CG. For MEP, both TG and PG improved significantly with a p-value of (p=0.034 and p=0.208, respectively) while no improvements were observed in CG. PEFR proved to be significantly increased in PG (p=0.012), while there was no improvement in TG and CG. MVV showed improvement in both, TG and PG (p=0.023 and p=0.006, respectively), while no change was noticed in CG. Regarding MNOVA test, Threshold IMT^® device shows to be superior to POWERbreath-plus^® in increasing MIP significantly (p=0.000).

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study suggests that Threshold IMT^® and POWERbreath-plus^® devices improve MIP and MVV, however, threshold devices may have the superiority in improving MIP but still more studies are needed.