Effect of respiratory muscle training on pulmonary function, lung ventilation and aerobic capacity in young football players: A randomized controlled trial.

Male Football Players aged 18 to 30 years playing more than 5 years of club level Football will be selected by counseling after visits to football grounds and academies. Information sheet will be given and Informed consent taken from each participant. Detailed history and clinical examination will be done & Baseline parameters like age, weight, height, BMI will be recorded.

Participants will be assigned to two groups by computer generated randomization process; experimental (n=10) and control (n=10).During the 12-week experimental period, both group continued their regular preseason soccer training including endurance workouts. Regular soccer training sessions will be performed four times per week under the supervision of a coach. The experimental group will perform additional IMT with a commercially available respiratory muscle trainer (Threshold IMT; Philips Respironics, Inc., Murrysville, PA, USA). The players will be instructed not to participate in any other vigorous physical activities during the study period other than those stated. Pre and post-intervention tests of pulmonary function, Lung ventilation and endurance performance will be implemented. The participants will be instructed to adhere to their usual diet and to not engage in strenuous activity the day before testing. On the test day, the participants were asked to not eat for at least 2h before testing. For each participant, testing will be scheduled at a similar time of day (±0.5h) to minimize the effects of diurnal fluctuation.

Test of Pulmonary function, lung ventilation and Aerobic capacity will be assessed before and after intervention in both groups as per standard protocol.