摘要
objective: to determine whether inspiratory muscle training can increase strength and endurance of these muscles in quadriplegic patients. methods: eight quadriplegic patients (7 males and 1 female) with injury to the lower cervical spine (segments c4-c7) were submitted to inspiratory muscle training with a threshold inspiratory muscle trainer adjusted to 30% of mip. the training sessions were carried out with the patients in a sitting position, 5 days a week for 8 weeks. endurance time, mip, mep and fvc were determined at baseline, week 4 and week 8. results: in comparison with the mean baseline value, there was an increase in mip, measured in the sitting position, at weeks 4 and 8 (-83.0 ㊣ 18.9 cmh2o vs. -104.0 ㊣ 19.4 cmh2o and -111.3 ㊣ 22.7 cmh2o). there was an increase in mep, also in the sitting position, at week 4 (from 36.8 ㊣ 8.1 to 42.6 ㊣ 8.8 cmh2o). there was an improvement in fvc at week 4 (from 2.1 ㊣ 0.8 to 2.5 ㊣ 0.6 l, representing an increase of 24 ㊣ 22%). although there was an increase in endurance (sitting) at week 8, the difference was not significant in comparison with the baseline value (29.8 ㊣ 21.0 vs. 35.9 ㊣ 15.5 min, an increase of 173 ㊣ 233%). conclusions: quadriplegic patients can benefit from training at low loads (30% of mip), which can improve inspiratory muscle strength, fvc and expiratory muscle performance.