Background: The role of pre- and post-lung transplant rehabilitation is to maintain or improve exercise tolerance, lung mechanics, peripheral respiratory muscle function. Our aim was measure the effectiveness post-transplant in terms changes functional quality life markers.

Respiratory muscle testing is often limited to noninvasive volitional tests such as vital capacity and maximal static pressures. We report the case of a 12-year-old boy with congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in whom invasive and non-volitional respiratory muscle tests showed an elective diaphragmatic dysfunction with the preservation of expiratory muscle strength. This finding, coupled with a...

The respiratory muscles have been studied extensively during the last 20 yrs. This interest was triggered predominantly by the observation made by ROUSSOS and MACKLEM [1] that the respiratory muscles, like all other skeletal muscles, may fatigue. Subsequent research critically examined the significance of inspiratory muscle fatigue in clinical pulmonary medicine. The conclusion of this research...

Relatively little is known about frequency and extent of respiratory problems in sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM). To address this issue a study of peripheral muscle and respiratory function and related symptoms was performed in a cohort with biopsy-proven IBM. Dyspnoea, daytime sleepiness, dysphagia, spirometry, respiratory muscle strength, arterial blood gas tensions and ventilation dur...

Introduction The care of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a very challenging but truly rewarding role for respiratory specialists. ALS is an incurable neurodegenerative disease affecting both upper and lower motor neurons, resulting in progressive skeletal muscle weakness. At onset, it generally affects predominantly either limb or bulbar muscles. Rarely, its first presentat...

BACKGROUND Because respiratory muscle function plays a strong role in exercise capacity and cardiopulmonary response to exercise, systematic training and measurement of respiratory muscle function should be considered in stroke patients. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an individualized respiratory muscle training device combined with conventional physical therapy exercise ca...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect that respiratory muscle stretching using the global postural reeducation (GPR) method has on respiratory muscle strength, thoracic expansion and abdominal mobility in sedentary young males. METHODS This was a randomized study involving 20 sedentary volunteers, aged 22.7 +/- 2.5 years, divided into two groups of 10: a control group, composed of subjects not per...

Respiratory muscle weakness is an uncommon cause of chronic respiratory failure and a rare cause of cor pulmonale. The problem may not be apparent unless specific physical signs are sought or appropriate investigations performed. We present three patients who presented diagnostic difficulty for prolonged periods until the presence of respiratory muscle weakness was considered. Once the diagnosi...