Difficulty breathing is commonly reported by patients with Asthma. Dyspnoea is a common symptom in asthmatics and is defined as a ‘subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity (1). Up to 27% reported having dyspnoea in a large population-based cross-sectional study (n = 9484) that included people from 15 countries who had diagnosed obstructive lung disease (2). The causes of dyspnoea are numerous and varied and may include a range of diseases, spanning from benign allergies during childhood to end of life sitch. However, the focus of treating dyspnoea had always been optimising the treatment of the underlying disease.

A recent case series published by Courtney et al (3) reports that dysfunctional breathing (assessed using biochemical, biomechanical and symptomatic measures) was normalized for patients with diagnosed asthma after 6 weeks of breathing retraining and manual therapy sessions. The authors (3) also reported that one of the patients with asthma reported improved control of asthma as well as improvements in lung function parameters.

The recovery from dysfunctional breathing reported in this case series (3) suggests that manual therapy may be a treatment option to relieve dyspnoea in patients with asthma. Accurate assessment and appropriate selection of manipulative techniques may restore normal and functional breathing in people with asthma.

References:

1. Parshall MB, Schwartzstein RM, Adams L, Banzett RB, Manning HL, Bourbeau J, Calverley PM, Gift AG, Harver A, Lareau SC, Mahler DA. An official American Thoracic Society statement: update on the mechanisms, assessment, and management of dyspnea. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. 2012 Feb 15;185(4):435-52.
2. Grønseth R, Vollmer WM, Hardie JA, Ólafsdóttir IS, Lamprecht B, Buist AS, Gnatiuc L, Gulsvik A, Johannessen A, Enright P. Predictors of dyspnoea prevalence: results from the BOLD study. European Respiratory Journal. 2014 Jun 1;43(6):1610-20.
3. Courtney R, Biland G, Ryan A, Grace S. Improvements in multi-dimensional measures of dysfunctional breathing in asthma patients after a combined manual therapy and breathing retraining protocol: a case series report. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijosm.2019.01.003