Inspiratory Muscle Training in Children With Cerebral Palsy: Effects on Respiratory and Motor Functions.

Authors

Sadık Emre Çelebi, Gamze Aydın, Hande Tunç, Mert Ersöz

Published in

Pediatrics international : official journal of the Japan Pediatric Society. Volume 68. Issue 1. Pages e70535.

Abstract

To evaluate the effectiveness of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) added to standard neurodevelopmental physiotherapy (SNP) on respiratory muscle strength, pulmonary function, trunk control, upper extremity function, and swallowing-related symptoms in children with cerebral palsy (CP).
A total of 20 children with CP were included in this randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups; experimental group received IMT in addition to SNP, while control group received only the SNP for 8 weeks. Respiratory muscle strength (maximum inspiratory pressure [MIP] and maximum expiratory pressure [MEP]), pulmonary function (Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 s [FEV₁], Forced Vital Capacity [FVC], Forced Expiratory Flow 25%-75% [FEF_25-75], Peak Expiratory Flow [PEF]), trunk control (Trunk Control Measurement Scale [TCMS]), upper extremity function (The ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire), swallowing (The Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool-10 [PEDI-EAT-10]) were assessed.
In the experimental group, an increase was observed in MIP, MIP%, MEP, MEP%, FEV₁, FVC, FEF_25-75 and PEF (all p < 0.05, η² = 0.202-0.838). In the control group, no significant increase was observed in parameters other than FEV₁/FVC (p = 0.031, η² = 0.234) (p > 0.05). The group×time interaction effect was significant in MIP, MIP%, MEP%, FEV₁, FVC (all p < 0.05; η² = 0.316-0.690). In the within-group analysis, an increase in TCMS scores was observed only in the experimental group (p = 0.018). No significant differences were observed in the other parameters in either the within-group analysis or the between-group comparisons (p > 0.05).
IMT led to improvements in respiratory muscle strength, pulmonary function, and trunk control in children with CP, with no effects on swallowing or upper extremity function.
NCT07041593.

PMID:
42658048
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Aug 2026.

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