Effect of respiratory muscle training on ventilatory variables in athletes and non-athletes with spinal cord injury: a systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Spinal Cord injury (SCI) is among the most limiting types of health conditions. Some consequences of SCI in the general state of health (GSH) are: full or partial loss of strength and sensitivity, besides dysfunctions in thermoregulation and in respiratory mechanics. The practice of sports by individuals with SCI has been growing each day, aiming not only at rehabilitation, but also at high performance. In this context, resources of different natures have been adopted to improve GSH and also to maximize sport performance. Respiratory muscle training (RMT) is one of these tools. Objective: To perform a systematic review to identify the effect of RMT on the ventilatory and metabolic variables of individuals with SCI athletes and non-athletes. Methods: The review followed the PRISMA recommendations and included experimental studies in Portuguese, English and Spanish, which had applied some type of RMT and which enrolled people with SCI athletes and non-athletes. We searched on the databases Pubmed, Lilacs, Scopus, Web of Science, PEDro, SciELO and Cochrane. The keywords were selected from MeSH Database. Results: Initially we found 4,354 studies. After applying eligibility criteria, 17 studies were included, from which 03 involved participants athletes and 14 had non-athletes. In general, the studies had small sample sizes (between 1 and 79 subjects). Evidences pointed that RMT has association with improvements in resting ventilatory variables from people with SCI athletes and non-athletes. However, RMT seems not providing positive effects during exercise. Regarding RMT protocols, there was divergence between the authors, who proposed different types of RMT and prescriptions. Conclusion: Results showed that RMT can promote benefits only in resting ventilatory variables of athletes and non-athletes. However, It is still unclear which type and RMT protocol should be used to maximize gains.