What's the buzz with Buteyko breathing?
Not all breathing exercises are created equal. Discover how different techniques can help improve breathing patterns, reduce symptoms and support asthma management.
Dysfunctional breathing, sometimes called disordered breathing or hyperventilation syndrome, is an inappropriate change in your breathing pattern which can result in unpleasant symptoms like shortness of breath, dizziness and chest tightness.
Dysfunctional breathing can affect anyone, but people with asthma can be particularly prone to this, with evidence suggesting that up to 30% of people with asthma are affected.
When someone with asthma is experiencing a flare up or an asthma attack, their breathing will change in response to this — you could see increased work of breathing, mouth breathing and prominent upper chest involvement.
This is a normal response to acute airway changes and should settle once the asthma episode has passed.
However, for some people, this breathing pattern will become a more persistent long-term habit, which can perpetuate and make your asthma symptoms feel worse. For this reason, breathing exercises are a common treatment strategy for people with asthma.
But what are the best breathing exercises to do? It can feel confusing when there is such a range of different breathing approaches including (but not limited too) Buteyko breathing, the Papworth Method, the BradCliff Method, yogic breathing, and deep diaphragmatic breathing.
However, it is important to know that these different approaches all come from a common foundation of principles based on the muscles you are using to breathe — the ratio of breathing in and out, nose vs mouth breathing, the volume and rate of your breathing — with the overarching aim of improving the breathing pattern to help minimise the symptoms of dysfunctional breathing.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to breathing exercises for asthma.
Treatment should be personalised to an individual’s presentation and be provided by an appropriate healthcare professional.
If you feel the way you are breathing could be improved, it is best to seek review with a physiotherapist with experience treating dysfunctional breathing to complete a proper assessment and find the treatment that is right for you.
This article is part of a regular column written by Zoë Manderson, a respiratory physiotherapist in Taranaki for Te Whatu Ora and a member of the Foundation's Respiratory Advisory Board.