Ventilatory Muscle Training

Abstract

Training stimuli factors that influence adaptive responses of the ventilatory muscles (VM) are kind, intensity, timing, duration, frequency, and amount of voluntary effort required. Training procedures may vary in different disease states; eg, training procedures that induce hyperpnea may be effective for those with COPD but not sensible for quadriplegics. If the disease state itself has training or detraining effects, additional VM training may produce little or no improvement. VM strength training is characterized by high-tension, low-repetition contractions of the VM. VM length training elicits adaptations whose effects are small and of speculative application. VM endurance training consists of low-tension, high-repetition contractions. Specific VM strength training has been shown to be effective in normal man and in those with tuberculosis and COPD; VM endurance training through inspiratory loading has been reported to increase the VM strength of quadriplegics and cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In other studies, endurance training through hyperpnea increased VM endurance in normal man and in patients with CF and COPD, and inspiratory-loading endurance training increased VM endurance in quadriplegics and those with CF and COPD. Various regimens of whole-body exercise training have been shown to increase VM endurance in normal man and in CF patients. In addition to benefiting those with COPD, VM training may provide an 'increased reserve' for those at risk for respiratory failure from lung or chest wall diseases. (Pardy RL, Leith DE. Ventilatory Muscle Training. Respir Care 1984:29:278-284.