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The Effect of Respiratory Muscle Training on Respiratory Parameters
Sponsor: Cyprus International University
Summary
The goal of this randomized controlled study is to find out whether an eight-week respiratory muscle training program can improve breathing, respiratory muscle strength and endurance, physical capacity, body composition, fatigue, exercise-related beliefs and barriers, quality of life, and emotional well-being in adults aged 18 years or older with hypothyroidism who have been taking levothyroxine for at least three months. The study asks whether participants who complete progressive inspiratory muscle training show greater improvement in these areas than participants who train at the device's lowest resistance. Women and men will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups. Both groups will perform breathing exercises at home five days a week for eight weeks, with the training group gradually increasing the exercise resistance. Participants will be assessed before and after the program using breathing and lung-function tests, physical-capacity and muscle-strength tests, body-composition measurements, and questionnaires.
Official title: The Effect of Respiratory Muscle Training on Respiratory Parameters, Respiratory Muscle Strength and Endurance, Functional Capacity and Emotional State in Hypothyroid Patients
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
30
Start Date
2023-06-21
Completion Date
2026-05-20
Last Updated
2026-10-08
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Progressive Muscle Training
At this point, the significance of specific rehabilitation approaches added to medical therapy, particularly structured inspiratory muscle training (IMT), becomes evident. Strong evidence in the literature demonstrates that IMT increases the proportion of Type 1 muscle fibers and induces structural hypertrophy in the diaphragm by improving oxidative capacity in other systemic diseases that increase respiratory workload, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure. Considering that the diaphragmatic myopathy observed in hypothyroidism shares similar pathophysiological and cellular weaknesses, specific Respiratory Muscle Training (RMT) has a high potential to not only provide symptomatic relief but also improve mechanical function by triggering repair at the cellular level in this patient group.
Control Group
To induce a placebo effect, the control group received sham training using the lowest possible resistance setting of the device (9 cmH₂O) for the full eight weeks, with no increments in training intensity.
Locations (1)
Cyprus International University
Mersin, Lefkosa, Turkey (Türkiye)