Maximal force developed by the diaphragm at functional residual capacity is a useful index to establish muscle weakness; however, great disparity in its reproducibility can be observed among reports in the literature. We evaluated five maneuvers to measure maximal transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdimax) in order to establish best reproducibility and value. Thirty-five naïve subjects, including 10 normal subjects (group 1), 12 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (group 2), and 13 patients with restrictive pulmonary disease (group 3), were studied. Each subject performed five separate maneuvers in random order that were repeated until reproducible values were obtained. The maneuvers were Mueller with (A) and without mouthpiece (B), abdominal expulsive effort with open glottis (C), two-step (maneuver C combined with Mueller effort) (D), and feedback [two-step with visual feedback of pleural (Ppl) and abdominal (Pab) pressure] (E). The greatest reproducible Pdimax values were obtained with maneuver E (P less than 0.01) (group 1: 180 +/- 14 cmH2O). The second best maneuvers were A, B, and D (group 1: 154 +/- 25 cmH2O). Maneuver C produced the lowest values. For all maneuvers, group 1 produced higher values than groups 2 and 3 (P less than 0.001), which were similar. The Ppl to Pdi ratio was 0.6 in maneuvers A and B, 0.4 in D and E, and 0.2 in C. We conclude that visual feedback of Ppl and Pab helped the subjects to elicit maximal diaphragmatic effort in a reproducible fashion. It is likely that the great variability of values in Pdimax previously reported are the result of inadequate techniques.