Impact of Customized Respiratory Training on Cardiopulmonary Function in Parkison's Disease

People with PD have lower cardiopulmonary function than their age matched peers. This decline can further impair a person's ability to participate in exercise and daily activities. Furthermore, the limitations in cardiopulmonary function can have a severe impact on mortality. There is evidence indicating the positive changes IMT can have on cardiopulmonary function in people with PD. Through intensive daily exercise people with PD have shown improvements in maximum inspiratory pressure and maximum expiratory pressure though detraining does occur when the intervention is not continued. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine if improvements in expiratory muscle strength can be maintained with a maintenance inspiratory muscle training program. The hypothesis is that there will be a significant change from baseline at the three and six month follow ups.