Heart failure is a syndrome that leads to decreased cardiac output, inflammation, increased catabolism, and prolonged immobilization, causing inspiratory muscle weakness. Cardiac rehabilitation is a well-known treatment approach in heart failure however, the participation rate in cardiac rehabilitation is low. Therefore, inspiratory muscle training may serve as an alternative approach in patients with heart failure.~Patients will be randomly allocated into the inspiratory muscle training group and control group. The inspiratory muscle training (IMT) group will carry out IMT sessions three days per week for 8 weeks by using an inspiratory threshold loading device. Each session will consist of seven cycles including 2 min of breathing on an inspiratory loading device followed by 1 min of rest and will last 21 min. IMT will be performed at the tolerable maximum load for each 2-min work interval and will be progressively increased over the 8 weeks. The control group will perform unloaded IMT by using an inspiratory threshold loading device during all training sessions. Data will be collected before and after the treatment by a masked outcome assessor.
The aim of this study is to investigate the potential effects of inspiratory muscle training on cardiovascular, respiratory, physical, and psychosocial functions in patients with heart failure.