Adherence to and impact of home-based high-intensity IMT in people with spinal cord injury: a pilot study

This study investigates whether people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) can stick to a home-based, high-intensity inspiratory muscle training (IMT) program and if it improves their respiratory function and balance. The researchers tracked how well participants followed the daily IMT routine, measured the difficulty they experienced, and assessed changes in their breathing ability and seated balance. The results suggest that individuals with SCI can successfully perform high-intensity IMT at home, leading to improvements in their inspiratory performance.

• 1
  Participants completed an average of 69% of their training days in the first month of daily IMT, and 65% overall.
• 2
  Maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), sustained MIP (SMIP), and total power (TP) significantly improved from baseline to the first follow-up.
• 3
  One participant's training load was reduced due to suspected overtraining, highlighting the need for monitoring.