Inspiratory Muscle Trainer Effectiveness in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Rehabilitation Program

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is marked by persistent respiratory disturbance which results in altered health status as well as functional capacity. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a part of comprehensive therapy in patients suffering from respiratory disturbance. This study focused on inspiratory muscles exercise using the inspiratory muscle trainer(IMT), which is a form of a weight training exercise. This experiment was conducted at the COPD outpatient clinic of Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital during the period of September 2017 until April 2018. Patients were recruited consecutively. The criteria for inclusion were stable COPD patient with GOLD criteria A-D and never received prior exercise for pulmonary rehabilitation. Patients underwent interview about their medical history followed by spirometry testing using Carefusion® and inspiratory muscle strength assessment using Micro RPM Carefusion®. The St George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) was used to assess the health status and the 6-minute walking test (6MWT) was conducted to assess the functional capacity. Subject exercised using IMT (Philips Respironic®) for eight weeks. Data were analyzed using paired t-test in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21. A total of 15 subjects with and average age of 65.6±8.40 years old were recruited. Pre-Post difference in inspiratory muscle strength was 11.31 cmH2O, showing a statistically significant impact. The significant impact was also shown clinically through the results of the Minimal Clinical Important Difference (MCID) on health status and functional capacity. The health status was evaluated using SGRQ with p exceeding 4%. A combined Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) and inspiratory muscles exercise program is proven to improve the health status and functional capacity.