Respiratory complication is one of the most common progressive conditions associated with neuromuscular disease or disorder (NMD) and may be the result of inspiratory muscle weakness. You’ll notice signs such as extreme shortness of breath from slight effort, also known as dyspnoea; and use of your accessory respiratory muscles, which indicates effort when breathing.

This progressive breathing muscle weakness can lead to deterioration of breathing function, however breathing muscle training, or Respiratory Muscle Training (RMT), such as with POWERbreathe IMT, can improve respiratory function. POWERbreathe RMT works by exercising the muscles you use to breathe, improving breathing strength and stamina and reducing breathing muscle fatigue. RMT is drug-free and has no side effects or drug interactions; just speak to your GP first. Read Precautions and Contraindications.

If you also experience difficulty coughing, this can be another sign of impairment of your respiratory muscles and is a result of expiratory weakness. This poor airway clearance can cause infections such as pneumonia and atelectasis (closure/collapse of lung tissue). However, a review finds that IMT may reduce the risk of developing atelectasis.

Target Breathing Weakness With RMT

There are different types of Respiratory Muscle Training (RMT) for targeting the type of weakness present. So, you will need to perform Inspiratory Muscle Training with POWERbreathe IMT devices for inspiratory muscle weakness. And for expiratory muscle weakness, you’ll need to perform Expiratory Muscle Training, also known as EMST (Expiratory Muscle Strength Training), with POWERbreathe EMT devices.

Conditions Helped Through RMT

Neuromuscular Disease (NMD)

In this review, training with IMT shows that it can improve breathing force and endurance in patients with neuromuscular weakness.

This case study finds that using the POWERbreathe K3 for IMT did improve inspiratory muscle strength and health-related quality of life in a child with advanced neuromuscular disease and severe pulmonary restriction.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

POWERbreathe IMT may improve inspiratory muscle strength and resting heart rate in patients with ALS. And this study shows that IMT has the potential for strengthening inspiratory muscles in patients with ALS/MND, while also slowing respiratory function decline. 

Also, EMT can increase the strength and endurance of oropharyngeal muscles leading to improved swallow function, decreased risk of aspiration and cough function.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

And this study finds that 10-weeks of IMT increases inspiratory muscle strength in advanced multiple sclerosis (MS).

Myasthenia Gravis (MG)

This study finds improvements in respiratory muscle strength, chest wall mobility, respiratory pattern, and respiratory endurance following IMT. And this clinical trial suggests its usefulness as a complementary therapy for reducing dyspnea and delaying breathing crisis and need for mechanical ventilation in patients with MG.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)

Specific IMT is shown in this study to improve respiratory muscle endurance in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

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