Effect of Inspiratory Muscle Trainer on Running Performance and Respiratory Muscle Strength in Athletes

Background: Athletes are trained for specific games and for specific muscle groups. In all the games respiratory muscles with proper strength are needed so as to provide better outcome. But as the peripheral muscles are trained the Respiratory muscles are not trained specifically in any of the athlete. The less trained Respiratory muscles can directly affect the output of the Athlete by activating Metaboreflex. This reflex is activated when the Respiratory muscles gets fatigued; in which the blood is pulled towards the fatigued Respiratory muscles; due to which the peripheral muscle gets less blood and oxygen to work longer; which results in reduced output. So as to improve overall output, along with specific muscles, the Respiratory muscles should also be trained. Aim: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of Inspiratory Muscle Trainer on Running Performance and Respiratory Muscle strength in Athletes. Materials and methods: An Interventional study was conducted on Athletes studying in a Physical Education college Gujarat. The subjects were selected according to inclusion criteria. The Pre-training outcome of PImax (Inspiratory Mouth Pressure); PEmax (Expiratory Mouth Pressure) and time taken for 30m sprint was taken. And then subjects were divided into two groups' one training and other control. Group A: Training for Respiratory muscles by Inspiratory Muscle Training Device along with other regular physical activity. Group B: Not getting any additional training for Respiratory muscle other than regular physical activity. The training was given at 50% PImax for 15 min a day for 6 weeks. At the end of 6 weeks postdata of PImax PEmax and speed were collected. Results: Data analysis was done using SPSS20 version. In Experimental group Inspiratory Mouth Pressure, Expiratory Mouth Pressure improved significantly (p<0.05) also time taken for completion of 30msprint reduced significantly. (p<0.05) Conclusion: The Inspiratory Muscle Trainer can be used to improve Inspiratory Mouth Pressure, Expiratory Mouth Pressure and Running Performance in Athletes.