Effect of Inspiratory Muscle Training on Performance of Handball Athletes

Abstract

Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a strategy that has been used to improve performance in different sports modalities. This study investigated the effects of an IMT program on respiratory muscle strength and resistance as well as aerobic physical performance (PP) of handball athletes. Nineteen 20 ± 3 year-old male athletes were allocated into an experimental (EG, n = 10) or a placebo group (PG, n = 9). Their respiratory muscle strength was evaluated by measuring the maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressures (MIP and MEP), muscular respiratory resistance by maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) and aerobic PP by the cardiopulmonary exercise test. The study was designed to evaluate the effects of a 12-week IMT program with five sessions a week. A significant difference was observed in the pre and post IMT values of the MIP (170 ± 34 to 262 ± 33 cmH2O) and MEP (177 ± 36 to 218 ± 37 cmH2O) in the EG, and MIP (173 ± 45 to 213 ± 21 cmH2O) in the PG, with a large effect size for the MIP, when the groups were compared. MVV showed a significant increase (162 ± 24 to 173 ± 30 L) in the EG, with a small effect size. There was a significant difference in maximum oxygen uptake (54 ± 8 to 60 ± 7 ml/kg/min) in aerobic PP. Oxygen uptake at the respiratory compensation point (RCP) (46 ± 6 to 50 ± 5 ml/kg/min), with a moderate effect size for both variables, was observed in the EG after IMT. We concluded that IMT provided a significant increase in respiratory muscle strength and resistance, contributing to increased aerobic PP in the EG, which suggests that IMT could be incorporated in handball players’ training.

Inspiratory Muscle Training in Intermittent Sports Modalities: A Systematic Review

“…Among the first, in the article by Najafi et al [37], increases of 8.9% were achieved with a moderate ES of 0.77 in experimental group 1 (55% MIP), and 8.1% with a moderate ES of 0.78 in experimental group 2 (40% MIP); however, in the article by Romer et al [58], the increase was approximately 7% with a moderate ES of 0.25. Both studies are in line with other studies conducted with semi-professional handball players [65] and football players [2], which showed performance improvements.…”

“…It is important to note that many of the other articles did not assess MEP, but for those that did, they did not observe any significant increases. It would be interesting to determine whether the work of the inspiratory muscles can favor the work of the expiratory ones, as this seems to be indicated in an article with semi-professional handball players where the MIP increased by 54% and the MEP by 23% [65]. Only one study used PowerLung, a device that presents a load on both the inspiratory and expiratory phases [59]; however, since it did not provide MEP data, a comparison could not be made.…”

Handball Research: State of the Art

“…Studies related to the national teams of two of the world’s major countries in this sport – Norway and Denmark – have confirmed that experience in the Norwegian national youth and junior teams is associated with the number of international matches played in the senior category ( Bjorndal et al, 2018 ), and that the relative age effect is apparent in Danish national men’s teams at these younger levels ( Wrang et al, 2018 ). Regarding the training programs, it has been found that programs targeted at the inspiratory muscles not only improve these muscles in particular, but also contribute to enhancing aerobic performance ( Hartz et al, 2018 ) and postural stability exercises implementing the biofeedback method on stabilo and dynamometric platforms are practical and justifiable in junior goalkeepers ( Wilczyński, 2018 ). Pre-season conditioning programs that include working on hamstring and quadriceps muscles are needed to reduce the risk of injury ( Spieszny and Zubik, 2018 ).…”

Early effects of inspiratory muscle training in critical patients submitted to mechanical ventilation: A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

“…The study will be conducted using the POWERbreath ® mechanical loading device (Medic, London, United Kingdom). Although a training proposal with this equipment has already been described in the literature in athletes [24], outpatients [25] and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [26], to the best of our knowledge, no study has analysed early IMT using this device in mechanically ventilated patients.…”