Breathing exercises for bronchial asthma according to Buteyko

Buteyko technique

Russian scientist Buteyko K.P. put forward the concept of deep breathing disease, which leads to disruption of the metabolic mechanism. A method has been developed to cure this disease. This technique is based on conscious breathing through the sinuses with increased pauses between breaths and a decrease in the number of breaths per minute. Normally, the rhythm of breathing and heart contractions should be the same; gradual, shallow breathing occurs through the nose. The normal respiratory rate is 6-8 breaths per minute. When the disease occurs, the rhythm and frequency are lost. In the course of research, doctor Buteyko came to the conclusion that unnatural breathing is necessary, and most importantly, can be corrected. A sick person, having studied his breathing and learned ways to reduce breathing, can prevent and even stop an attack, as well as stimulate improvements in the body’s condition, leading to recovery. When performing breathing exercises, inhale lasts for 3 seconds, and exhale for no more than 4, holding your breath between them should be 3-5 seconds.

Preparation for classes

Preparation for classes
For greater effectiveness from exercises, it is necessary to prepare the body:

Sitting on a comfortable chair with your back straight and your hands on your knees, you need to relax.
For ten minutes, perform shallow, shallow nasal breathing.

When carrying out these actions, you may experience a feeling of lack of oxygen and dizziness. However, this allows you to maximally free the pulmonary system from air masses, which has a positive effect on the effectiveness of the actual exercise itself.

Rules of breathing exercises

The training does not involve haste and includes a number of general rules for its implementation, which reduce the load on the body and improve the result:

Breathing is carried out through the mouth, nasal breathing in bronchial asthma harms patients - the contents of the nasopharynx enter the lungs;
When asthma is in the acute stage, training takes place in the intervals between attacks, otherwise a severe cough and bronchial spasm will appear;
Shallow breathing and emotional control do not increase the symptoms of the disease;
A set of exercises is prescribed by the attending physician, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient’s body. The doctor also gives recommendations that need to be followed.

Set of exercises

10 approaches of shallow breathing are carried out, which allows you to ventilate the tops of the lungs. Inhale, exhale and hold for 5 seconds.
Diaphragmatic breathing. Inhale for 7.5 seconds, exhale for 7.5 seconds, with a five-second delay. Repeat 10 times.
A one-time massage of the reflexogenic zones on the nose while taking a pause in breathing.
Alternate breathing. Breathe first through the right nasal cavity, then through the left half. Repeat 10 times.
Breathing with the diaphragm is repeated, but when you inhale, the stomach retracts, and when you exhale, it protrudes. 10 times.
The lungs are deeply ventilated. In 60 seconds, 12 of the deepest inhalations and exhalations are performed. Afterwards, the breath is held for as long as possible.
Rare breathing. The duration of inhalation, retention, exhalation, pause increases as individually as possible:
Six approaches in 120 seconds: inhale, hold, exhale, pause for five seconds.
Six approaches in 180 seconds: inhale and exhale for 7.5 seconds, between them hold your breath and pause for five seconds.
Inhale, hold your breath, exhale and pause. Each movement is 10 seconds. Runs for 240 seconds. Aim for 1 breath per minute.
When inhaling and exhaling, the breath is held as much as possible. It is carried out once.
The maximum possible pause without breathing: repeated alternately: in a sitting position, while walking, while running in place and squatting. 4-10 approaches.
Finish the complex with chest breathing, bringing it to the surface for 5 to 10 minutes, the duration depends on the individuality of the body.

Strelnikova training

Gymnastics is simple and accessible to the trainee. No special equipment or dedicated space is required, and there are no age restrictions.

Strelnikova’s complex affects both the lungs and bronchi, and the entire body. This technique can be used for all kinds of diseases, but the pathology of the pulmonary system comes first. It is important for patients to learn how to cope with asthma attacks on their own. A set of techniques, with small but strong inhalations through the nasal cavity and passive exhalation, will help stop the oncoming attack, the ability to recover from bronchitis and solve sinus problems. Thanks to the inhalations performed during bending and squats, the abdominal muscles and diaphragm are tensed, while the lungs are straightened and filled with air. In patients, problems are observed during exhalation, which depends on the quality of inhalation.

You should try to perform all exercises rhythmically and adhere to execution techniques. The number of repetitions is a multiple of four. Classes are held regularly, at least 2 times a day for thirty minutes. Breathing exercises will help prevent an attack if you apply the techniques at the first sign.

Rules for performing breathing practices

There are several rules that will allow you to apply practices more effectively:

You should breathe only through your mouth. If you do this with your nose, the contents of the nasopharynx will enter the bronchi and provoke an attack.
During periods when a large amount of sputum has accumulated in the bronchi, you should perform exercises only in between inhalation and exhalation. Otherwise, a spasm or severe coughing attack is possible.
You should not take too deep breaths, as they can irritate the bronchi and cause attacks.
While doing the exercises, learn to breathe calmly, exhaling moderately and inhaling shallowly. This will help you learn to calm down during attacks.
Exercises are performed twice a day. It is best to do this outdoors, in a well-ventilated room or on a balcony. At the same time, there should be complete silence around; you should not turn on music, as it will knock you out of rhythm or prevent you from performing the exercises correctly. Ask your household to leave you while you do the gymnastics so as not to be distracted from the correct technique.

Many doctors recommend combining exercises with physiotherapeutic procedures. However, there are a number of cases when breathing practices should be stopped:

during an attack of coughing or choking (only calm and even breathing is allowed);
if there are unfavorable weather conditions outside: strong wind, rain, frost or heat;
when the room is stuffy and there is no flow of fresh air;
during acute respiratory diseases;
with loss of strength, intoxication and poor health.

Remember that breathing exercises cannot replace the use of medications. It can only reduce the frequency of inhalations in patients.

Exercises

Can be done while lying in bed. Try to pull your legs bent at the knees towards your chest. Performed while exhaling.
Standing position. Hands are on the belt. Inhaling air through the nasal sinuses, the stomach inflates, and then, exhaling sharply, retracts.
Inhale alternately through the right and left nostrils. After a deep breath, slowly exhale through the tube.
While in a lying position, you exhale forcefully and the stomach is drawn in, and when you inhale, it protrudes. This will be followed by a dull cough.
Take several nasal breaths in small portions. The air is exhaled with a hiss through the mouth with closed jaws.
It is carried out sitting or standing. The shoulder girdle relaxes, the arms are lowered along the body, a bend is made and a short and sharp breath is taken. As you exhale, straighten up.
Feet shoulder-width apart, hands clenched into fists, located at waist height. When inhaling, the arms are sharply stretched forward and down, and when exhaling, they return to their original position.
Feet are placed shoulder-width apart, arms are lowered along the body. A noisy, sharp breath is taken and the fingers are clenched into a fist. Passive exhalation, fingers relax.
Elbows rise to shoulder level. Inhaling, you suddenly grab your shoulders with your arms, and when you exhale, return to the original position.
The head turns to the right, to the left. Simultaneously with the turns, a sharp, quick breath is taken through the nose. Exhale passively through the mouth.

Yoga

Yoga
For bronchial asthma, special asanas and breathing exercises are used. Techniques that require singing various sounds and chest massage are also effective. Yogi breathing exercises use the participation of all parts of the lungs and adjacent muscles in breathing. Due to this, the bronchi are cleaned, which allows air to pass freely and be saturated with oxygen.

Breathing exercises for bronchial asthma

Depending on the severity of asthma, people suffering from this disease often have to give up any form of physical activity to avoid triggering another painful attack.

But reasonable and feasible physical activity not only does not harm, but, on the contrary, helps to cope with shortness of breath and suffocation that accompany this disease. And breathing exercises for bronchial asthma are one of the types of physical activity that has a miraculous effect on the body of a sick person, reducing the frequency of attacks and easing their course.

It should be noted that neither special physical training for asthmatics nor breathing exercises are in any way opposed to traditional drug treatment, but complement it. The exercises themselves are designed to alleviate the condition of people suffering from bronchial asthma, and are also an excellent method of preventing various complications that this disease can cause.

The goal of breathing exercises is to teach calm, shallow and shallow breathing, since it is deep breaths that irritate the receptors in the bronchi, which leads to the onset and intensification of an asthmatic attack.

It is best to train outdoors, even in the winter. However, no matter how wonderful breathing exercises may seem, it should be noted that, like any other method of treatment, they have their contraindications. In particular, it is better to refuse training if:

you have recently had an attack of choking, severe cough or cramps;
weather conditions outside are not conducive to training (severe frost, heat, wind, rain, etc.);
you train at home, but you do not have the opportunity to ventilate the room in which you are going to train;
you had to run for a long time and intensely or walk quickly, as a result of which you feel “tired breathing”;
your vitality for some reason - fatigue, bad mood - leaves much to be desired;
you have recently suffered from an acute upper respiratory tract illness.

If there are no contraindications, then you can safely begin performing breathing exercises. However, there are certain rules here too.

Deep breathing exercise

Deep breathing exercise:
Sitting cross-legged with your hands on your knees. As you inhale slowly through your nose, your arms move in different directions. The air alternately fills the stomach, chest, and tops of the lungs. Breathing is held for three or four seconds, after which a slow voluntary exhalation is made and the hands return to their original position. 3-5 approaches are done.

Some asanas have contraindications for bronchial asthma. At the initial stage, it is necessary to work only with a specialist

Physiotherapy

Therapeutic exercise
Treatment of any lung disease necessarily includes the use of exercise therapy, which helps make the disease easier and reduces the frequency of exacerbations. Prescribed during periods of remission and the absence of contraindications.

Exercise therapy improves lung ventilation, which leads to a reduction in allergies and obstructions and normalizes the quality of breathing. Exercises are prescribed with gradual physical activity, starting from the preparatory course.

Exercises are carried out in a quiet, ventilated room.
Distractions during class are unacceptable.
Perform the exercises regularly, corresponding to this technique.
After classes, heartbeats and sensations are recorded in a diary.
It is prohibited to refuse medication treatment on your own unless the attending physician cancels it.

Bronchial asthma is not a death sentence. If you follow the techniques and regularly perform the exercises, it is possible to reduce pulmonary insufficiency, strengthen the tone of the bronchial walls, and normalize blood supply. Breathing exercises help strengthen not only the pulmonary system, but also the entire body as a whole. With its help, you can learn to prevent attacks and improve your quality of life.

Benefits of breathing exercises for bronchial asthma

As a result of systematic breathing exercises, significant improvements can be achieved:

the surface of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract is cleared of mucus and sputum;
the lumen of the respiratory tract increases, which leads to improved ventilation of the bronchi and lungs;
normal regulation and functions of the respiratory apparatus are restored;
bronchial spasticity returns to normal, as a result of which the frequency of bronchial spasms decreases;
muscle tissue and the diaphragm, which are responsible for the normal breathing process, are strengthened;
the functioning of the cardiovascular system is normalized;
a person suffering from bronchial asthma learns to control his breathing, which alleviates his own condition during asthmatic attacks;
due to improved functioning of the respiratory system, the frequency and intensity of asthmatic attacks gradually decreases;
As the general condition improves, the level of stress decreases - this is one of the factors that causes asthmatic attacks.