Functional outcomes of inspiratory muscle training in elderly with intensive care unit-acquired weakness and severe walking disability.

BACKGROUND

Intensive care unit acquired-weakness syndrome (ICUAWS) leaves several complications in functional movements of patients such as severe walking disability.

OBJECTIVE

Assessment of functional outcomes of 1-month inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in elderly with ICUAWS and severe walking disability was our aim. The design, setting, participants, and intervention. This study is a randomized controlled trial. ICUAWS patients who complained of severe walking disability on the Modified Functional Ambulatory Category Test (MFACT) were randomly assigned into the IMT group or control group, n = 20 for each group. Both groups received the traditional physical therapy program.

RESULTS

The results showed that the post-therapy between-group comparison of ICUAWS sufferers/groups' parameters showed a significant improvement toward the IMT group in six-minute walk test, inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, forced vital capacity, time up and go test, 10-m walk test, forced expiratory volume in the first second, 30-s sit-to-stand test, partial pressure of arterial blood oxygen and carbon dioxide, MFACT, oxygen saturation of arterial blood, physical, and mental summary of short form 36.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, IMT improves functional outcomes in ICUAWS patients with walking disability.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

The clinical trial ID of this ICUAWS trial is NCT06210763.