Respiratory muscle endurance after resiratory muscle training in athletes and non-athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The objectives of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of respiratory muscle training (RMT) on respiratory muscle endurance (RME) and to determine the RME test that demonstrates the most consistent changes after RMT. Electronic searches were conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, COCHRANE CENTRAL, CINHAL and SPORTDiscus. The PEDro scale was used for quality assessment and meta-analysis were performed to compare effect sizes of different RME tests. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Isocapnic hyperpnea training was performed in 40% of the studies. Meta-analysis showed that RMT improves RME in athletes (P ¼ 0.0007) and non-athletes (P ¼ 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed differences among tests; maximal sustainable ventilatory capacity (MSVC) and maximal sustainable threshold loading tests demonstrated significant improvement after RMT (P ¼ 0.007; P ¼ 0.003 respectively) compared to the maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) (P ¼ 0.11) in athletes whereas significant improvement after RMT was only shown by MSVC in non-athletes. The effect size of MSVC was greater compared to MVV in studies that performed both tests. The meta-analysis results provide evidence that RMT improves RME in athletes and non-athletes and tests that examine endurance over several minutes (eg. MSVC) are more sensitive to improvement after RMT than the shorter MVV.

Putative Role of Respiratory Muscle Training to Improve Endurance Performance in Hypoxia: A Review

“…At the same time, RMT may also favor a more efficient breathing pattern, thereby improving the level of alveolar ventilation and maintaining SaO 2 values (Bernardi et al, 2006). RMT has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing breathing rate (and elevating tidal volume) at sea level (Bernardi et al, 2014) and at altitude as well (Keyl et al, 2003). Indirectly, slower breathing reduces the HVR (Bernardi et al, 2001a) and diminishes the heart rate response and systemic blood pressure at altitude.…”