Skip to content

Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training in Adults With Obesity

Time-Efficient Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training as a New Approach to Lower Blood Pressure, Improve Respiratory Function, and Reduce Exertional Dyspnea in Adults With Obesity

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05459636
Enrollment
44
Registered
2022-07-15
Start date
2023-12-07
Completion date
2026-12-31
Last updated
2026-08-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Obesity

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether inspiratory muscle strength training reduces blood pressure in adults with obesity.

Detailed description

Obesity affects four-in-ten American adults and is associated with hypertension and greater all-cause mortality. Irrespective of weight loss, aerobic exercise reduces arterial blood pressure (BP) and improves cardiometabolic health. However, nearly half of adults with obesity do not perform aerobic exercise because of low leisure time availability and exertional dyspnea secondary to high chest wall mass-related inspiratory muscle dysfunction. In other clinical populations, emerging data demonstrates time-efficient high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) reduces BP and improves respiratory muscle function. Therefore, the investigators will determine whether eight weeks of daily high-resistance IMST reduces BP, improves respiratory muscle function, and concomitantly reduces exertional dyspnea in a randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled (i.e., very low-resistance IMST) clinical trial among adults with obesity

Interventions

Participants will perform high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training on a daily basis for eight weeks using a handheld device that produces resistance that increases the effort of breathing in.

DEVICEVery-low-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training

Participants will perform very-low-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training on a daily basis for eight weeks using a handheld device that produces resistance that increases the effort of breathing in.

Sponsors

Florida State University
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 45 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

\- Body mass index 30 - 40 kg/m2

Exclusion criteria

* Not weight stable (\<5% change in body mass over the past six months) * Overt cardiovascular, neurological, renal, liver, and/or metabolic illness (e.g., diabetes mellitus) * Current, or history of uncontrolled, Stage 2 hypertension (blood pressure \>140 / 90 mmHg; anti-hypertensive medications are permitted) * Diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea * Previous bariatric surgery * Diagnosis or signs (e.g., values below the lower limit of normal) of overt airway disease(s) * Current or recent (regular use within the past 6 months) use of tobacco or nicotine products (e.g., cigarettes, vaping) * Pregnant (self-reported and confirmed via urine pregnancy test), lactating (self-reported), or post-menopausal (self-reported) females * Prisoners * Per the POWERbreathe® company: * Patients who have undergone recent abdominal surgery and those with abdominal hernia. * Asthma patients who have a very low symptom perception and suffer from frequent, severe exacerbations or with an abnormally low perception of dyspnea. * If a patient is suffering from a ruptured eardrum or any other condition of the ear. * Patients with marked elevated left ventricular end-diastolic volume and pressure. * Patients with worsening heart failure signs and symptoms after training. * If an individual is suffering from a cold, sinusitis or respiratory tract infection, it is advised that they do not use the POWERbreathe device.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in laboratory-measured blood pressureUp to 16 weeksSystolic and diastolic blood pressure measured in the laboratory

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in ambulatory blood pressureUp to 16 weeksSystolic and diastolic blood pressure measured at home using an automated monitor
Change in inspiratory muscle strengthUp to 16 weeksPeak inspiratory pressure measured in the laboratory
Change in blood pressure reactivity during aerobic exerciseUp to 16 weeksSystolic and diastolic blood pressure measured in the laboratory at rest and during an incremental aerobic exercise test
Blood pressure during respiratory muscle testingUp to 16 weeksSystolic and diastolic blood pressure measured in the laboratory at rest and during a respiratory muscle exercise test (eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea)

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Aug 28, 2026