Del Corral Núñez-Flores, TamaraFabero Garrido, RaúlPlaza Manzano, GustavoFernández de las Peñas, CésarNavarro Santana, Marcos JoséLópez De Uralde Villanueva, Ibai Julio2024-04-192024-04-192023-02Tamara del Corral, Raúl Fabero-Garrido, Gustavo Plaza-Manzano, César Fernández-de-las-Peñas, Marcos Navarro-Santana, Ibai López-de-Uralde-Villanueva, Home-based respiratory muscle training on quality of life and exercise tolerance in long-term post-COVID-19: Randomized controlled trial, Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Volume 66, Issue 1, 2023, 101709, ISSN 1877-0657, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rehab.2022.101709. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877065722000811)1877-065710.1016/j.rehab.2022.101709https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/103268Objective: To evaluate the effects of a home-based respiratory muscle training programme (inspiratory [IMT] or inspiratory/expiratory muscles [RMT]) supervised by telerehabilitation on quality of life and exercise tolerance in individuals with long-term post-COVID-19 symptoms. The secondary objective was to evaluate the effects of these programmes on respiratory muscle function, physical and lung function, and psychological state. Methods: 88 individuals with long-term symptoms of fatigue and dyspnoea after COVID-19 diagnosis were randomly (1:1 ratio) assigned to IMT, IMTsham, RMT or RMTsham groups for an 8-week intervention (40min/day, 6 times/week). Primary outcomes were quality of life (EuroQol-5D questionnaire) and exercise tolerance (Ruffier test). Secondary outcomes were respiratory muscle function (inspiratory/expiratory muscle strength; inspiratory muscle endurance), physical function (lower and upper limb strength [1-min Sit-to-Stand and handgrip force]), lung function (forced spirometry), and psychological status (anxiety/depression levels and post-traumatic stress disorder). All outcomes were measured pre-, intermediate- (4th week), and post-intervention. Results: At post-intervention, there was a statistically significant and large (d>0.90) improvement in quality of life, but not in exercise tolerance, in the RMT group compared with the RMTsham group. Both of the real training groups produced a statistically significant and large increase in inspiratory muscle strength and endurance (d≥0.80) and in lower limb muscle strength (d≥0.77) compared with the 2 sham groups. Expiratory muscle strength and peak expiratory flow showed a statistically significant and large (d≥0.87) increase in the RMT group compared with the other 3 groups. Conclusion: Only an 8-week supervised home-based RMT programme was effective in improving quality of life, but not exercise tolerance, in individuals with long-term post-COVID-19 symptoms. In addition, IMT and RMT programmes were effective in improving respiratory muscle function and lower limb muscle strength, but had no impact on lung function and psychological status.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.rehab.2022.101709open access615.8SARS-CoV-2Respiratory muscle trainingQuality of lifeMaximal respiratory pressuresTelerehabilitationFisioterapia (Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Podología)Fisioterapia (Medicina)3213.11 Fisioterapia