Muscle training may lessen COPD symptoms

For people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema, high intensity training of the muscles used for breathing can improve muscle function and reduce dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and fatigue, according to a study.

Still, used alone, such training is unlikely to yield clinically relevant improvements in exercise capacity, which is often a problem for COPD patients, researchers say.

So-called inspiratory muscle training (IMT) “may be of particular benefit to COPD patients who report dyspnea during activities of daily living and/or fatigue, but are unable to effectively participate in whole-body exercise training because of comorbid conditions, such as musculoskeletal impairments,” note Dr. P. R. Eastwood, from the Sir Charles Gairnder Hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia, and colleagues.

Among 33 COPD patients randomized to high-intensity IMT or sham IMT three times a week for 8 weeks, high-intensity IMT was associated with significant improvements in a number of COPD symptoms.

Compared with sham IMT, high-intensity IMT led to a 29 percent increase in maximum inspiratory pressure, a 56 percent rise in maximum threshold pressure, an increase of 27 meters in distance walked in six minutes, and reductions in breathing difficulty and fatigue.

“Further study is required to investigate the effects of combination high-intensity inspiratory muscle training and whole-body exercise training on dyspnea during activities of daily living and fatigue,” the authors state.

SOURCE: European Respiratory Journal, June 2006.

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