Fatigue of the respiratory muscles

Edited book (chapter)

Sheel, A. William, Mills, Dean E. and Archiza, Bruno. 2026. "Fatigue of the respiratory muscles." Martin, Colin R., Preedy, Victor R., Patel, Vinood B. and Rajendram, Rajkumar (ed.) The Scientific Basis of Fatigue. United States. Elsevier. pp. 383-396
Chapter Title

Fatigue of the respiratory muscles

Book Chapter CategoryEdited book (chapter)
ERA Publisher ID1821
Book TitleThe Scientific Basis of Fatigue
AuthorsSheel, A. William, Mills, Dean E. and Archiza, Bruno
EditorsMartin, Colin R., Preedy, Victor R., Patel, Vinood B. and Rajendram, Rajkumar
Page Range383-396
Chapter Number33
Number of Pages14
Year2026
PublisherElsevier
Place of PublicationUnited States
ISBN9780443240805
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-24080-5.00035-7
Web Address (URL)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/abs/pii/B9780443240805000357
Abstract

The respiratory system is tasked with the transfer of oxygen from air to blood as well as the regulation of carbon dioxide and pH. Cyclical contraction of the respiratory muscles permits relative blood gas homeostasis in healthy humans even under conditions of high ventilatory work. The respiratory muscles are ideally suited to perform repeated and sustained contractions. However this is not without limits and fatigue occurs under physiologically relevant conditions such as exercise. Our chapter places emphasis on the healthy human performing exercise. We first characterize the demands placed on the respiratory muscles and follow with a description of how to assess fatigue. We then discuss the mechanisms and consequences of fatigue and the effect of low oxygen availability. Recent work that reports sex-based differences in fatigue of the diaphragm is presented along with the effects of training the respiratory muscles. We end with a series of unresolved questions.

Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020320103. Respiratory diseases
420702. Exercise physiology
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Byline AffiliationsUniversity of British Columbia, Canada
School of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Ribeirão, Brasil
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