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Respiratory Muscle Strength and Ventilatory Function Outcome: Differences Between Trained Athletes and Healthy Untrained Persons

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Medical and Biomedical Updates

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((CLEXBI,volume 1289))

Abstract

It is known that the maximum mouth inspiratory pressure (MIP) and expiratory pressure (MEP) vary with age, weight, height, and skeletal muscle mass. However, the influence of physical training on ventilatory function outcomes is an area of limited understanding. The aim of this study was to investigate the respiratory muscle strength and its relation to spirometry variables in untrained healthy persons versus trained athletes. MIP and MEP were assessed in 22 power athletes and 28 endurance athletes, and in 24 age- and sex-matched normal healthy subjects (control group). The measurement was done with a mouth pressure meter. We found that respiratory muscle strength and ventilatory function in endurance athletes were outstandingly superior to that in power athletes; the latter’s muscle strength was better than that of healthy untrained controls. Both MIP and MEP significantly correlated with the maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) in both power athletes and controls, but not so in endurance athletes. The corollary is that the intensive endurance training could result in the improvement of respiratory muscle strength, meeting the maximum upper limit of functional reserve of respiratory muscles and the corresponding ventilation. On the other hand, targeted training of respiratory muscle strength may be an effective strategy to increase ventilatory function in power athletes, particularly those having a low maximum inspiratory and expiratory pressure, and in less physically fit healthy persons.

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Acknowledgments

Our thanks go to the Military Sport Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the possibility to conduct research and to the athletes who agreed to participate in the study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in relation to this article.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Experimental procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all the individual participants included the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Respiration Physiology, I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Marina O. Segizbaeva & Nina P. Aleksandrova

Authors
  1. Marina O. Segizbaeva
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  2. Nina P. Aleksandrova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina O. Segizbaeva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Opole Medical School, Opole, Poland

    Mieczyslaw Pokorski

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Segizbaeva, M.O., Aleksandrova, N.P. (2020). Respiratory Muscle Strength and Ventilatory Function Outcome: Differences Between Trained Athletes and Healthy Untrained Persons. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Medical and Biomedical Updates. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1289. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2020_554

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