A five-minute daily breathing routine on the NHS could vastly improve the lives of asthma sufferers, experts say.
Clinical studies show that when asthma patients breathe into a device called Powerbreathe for around five minutes a day for at least three weeks it results in a 75% improvement in symptoms.
After six months there was a reduction in medication of up to 79%, work absences by 95%, and reliance on the healthcare system by 75%.
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Professor John Dickinson, Head of the Exercise Respiratory Clinic at the University of Kent, who works with top athletes with breathing disorders and asthma said the benefits were marked.
He said: “This breathing routine could be the missing key to reducing hospital admissions and the carbon footprint due to less reliance on blue inhalers caused by overuse of blue inhalers.
“If only more doctors knew about it and how to train people to use the devices, which are available on the NHS.
“If we could provide every asthma patient with a breathing pattern training programme and support them to use such devices we could not only transform lives but also reduce the burden on our healthcare system and the carbon footprint.
“With less reliance on medication and blue inhalers and fewer hospital admissions this approach could save the NHS significant resources while empowering patients to lead more active lives without the constant fear of flare-ups.”
The device-led technique – known in medical and sports circles as inspiratory muscle training or ‘dumbbells for your diaphragm’ – requires patients to breathe into the device for five minutes a day, as reported by What’s The Jam.
It provides resistance as patients inhale through it forcing breathing muscles to work harder.
This strengthens breathing muscles which reduces breathlessness and helps the lungs work more efficiently.
Serious breathing problems like asthma are the leading cause of emergency hospital admissions in England accounting for one in eight unplanned admissions last year.
In the UK, 5.4 million people have asthma.
This is about 8 in every 100 people.
Personal trainer John Carlow, 45, who was diagnosed with asthma at age nine, said that since using Powerbreathe regularly over the last few years his once regular asthma attacks are now very rare.
“I have rescue inhalers in a drawer unopened but haven’t used one for almost a year.
“I don’t even carry one in my pocket anymore,” he said.
“I have greater confidence about exercising and I don’t have a meltdown if I don’t know where my inhaler is.
“I can push my fitness training in ways I wouldn’t have dreamed of before.
“I think that when I had Covid my stronger inspiratory muscles and larger lung capacity made it less bad than it would have been otherwise.
“Anxiety about not having an inhaler to hand used to actually trigger attacks.
“Now I don’t have to worry about it, at all.
“I used to be very anxious about engaging in anything approaching vigorous exercise, especially in the winter when the cold made my symptoms worse.
“I would panic and immediately start to wheeze if I didn’t know where my inhaler was.
“My Powerbreathe has changed my life and I would recommend them to anyone with asthma that could be better controlled.”
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