Are there differences in adherence to home-based, inspiratory muscle training programmes between athletes and non-athletes? Implications for designing community based rehabilitation programmes for respiratory patients

Home-based exercise programmes are used in a variety of clinical conditions as part of comprehensive patient management. Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a rehabilitation option that has been used in patients with various respiratory conditions, to improve perception of breathlessness and exercise capacity as well as in athletes to improve performance in competitive sports. However, results from research studies vary in these two groups, raising questions about possible differences in motivation and adherence to home-based IMT programmes and the effectiveness of this intervention in respiratory patients as opposed to healthy athletes. This presentation will examine evidence from an exploratory study investigating differences in adherence to a four-week, high intensity, home-based IMT programme in athletes and healthy, non-athletes, all of whom were physiotherapy students. It was hypothesized that healthy young volunteers should have no difference in adherence to a short IMT programme at home and their experiences following this programme should be similar. This was a mixed methods study, using self-report diaries to monitor adherence and focus groups to explore participants‘ experience following a four week IMT programme. Secondary outcomes were the maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressures (PImax and PEmax respectively), meters rowed in a rowing ergometer in 4 minutes and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) before and after rowing. Adherence is an important factor for any successful rehabilitation programme and results from this study suggest variation even in knowledgeable healthy individuals. Results will be present and discussed in the context of existing literature in this field.