The training of muscles that cause the chest to expand in order to take air into the lungs for people with cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is the most common life-limiting genetic condition in Caucasians. The life-expectancy of newly diagnosed patients is increasing. Inspiratory muscle training may improve quality of life, lung function and exercise tolerance in people with cystic fibrosis so that these are closer to the levels found in people who do not have cystic fibrosis. It may also boost the clearance of mucus. Inspiratory muscle training can be performed without the help of a carer and wherever the individual feels appropriate. We searched for randomised or quasi-randomised clinical controlled trials. We aimed to determine the effects of inspiratory muscle training in the treatment of people with cystic fibrosis. We were able to include eight studies with 180 participants in the review. We were not able to combine results from these studies to answer our questions, because the studies either did not publish enough detail or did not use the same standard measurements. Given this, we cannot recommend the use, or not, of this intervention. We do recommend that future studies make more use of health-related quality of life and exercise tolerance measures. We also suggest there should be agreement upon standard measurements to be used.