Effect of external protection usage on respiratory muscle strength and exercise capacity in elite athletes

ÇAM Arkız İlkcemre, Effect of External Protection Usage on Respiratory Muscle Strength and Exercise Capacity in Elite Athletes, Başkent University Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Master's Thesis, 2018 For proper and adequate respiration to occur, both lungs and chest wall should be able to expand with little effort. In the literature, there are very few studies, which are conducted using appliances such as shoulder pads etc. and show the decreases in pulmonary function. However there are no studies, which explain the effects of protection usage on respiratory muscle strength or exercise capacity. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of external protection usage on pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and exercise capacity in elite athletes. Thirty male elite American football players, with an age average 21.4 ± 2.01 years, were included in the study. Every other week, the individuals were randomly evaluated with and without external protection. With spirometric measurements respiratory functions, with mouth pressure measurement respiratory muscle strength and with cardiopulmonary exercise testing with maximal symptom on bicycle ergometer exercise capacity were evaluated. Compared to the values observed without external protection, it is found that FVC and FEV1 values, maximum inspiratory pressure and peak inspiratory flow values, peak oxygen consumption and initial diastolic blood pressure values were found to be significantly lower with external protection (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between two measurements for other parameters (p>0.05). In conclusion, it was observed that the external protections used by elite athletes may affect the pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and exercise capacity of individuals. Keywords: Pulmonary function testing, maximum inspiratory pressure, cardiopulmonary exercise test, exercise capacity, American football