Any one use a POWERBREATHE?....

Right so my pesky asthma is getting better due to cranking up my inhaler usage, but I stumbled across this on twitter

http://www.powerbreathe.com/powerbreathe-products/powerbreathe-classic-products/powerbreathe-classic-heavy-resistance-sports.html

powerbreathe lung muscles trainer, has anyone had any experience with one?... they seem good and at £30 worth a go, plus the vid says you just have to do 30 breaths 2x a day...seems like a simple and useful device for a feeble lunged weekling like me image

any good?.... any feedback?...

Thank you image

Comments

  • Hi,

    I used one for a while when I first started out and found that it helped improve my breathing to a degree, but it isn't a miracle cure and you have to use it regularly as directed. I also found it helpful to use it briefly before I went out, to open up my airways.....sort of a lung warm up.

    I got put off using it though last year, when I used it before a park 10k race. I suffer from pollen allergy and using it to open my airways meant I sucked in too much pollen when the race started and I had my first dnf image.  I may have struggled anyway though tbh, cos the pollen count was very high that day.

    Have a look on Amazon if you decide to order one, cos they usually have the basic one at around £25.

    I'm actually finding at the moment, in the cold weather, that I'm getting better improvement in my breathing through running wearing a buff over my mouth and nose, cos it warms up the air I'm breathing in.

    Not sure whether I've helped you much there or not image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    I'd suggest having a quick chat with your asthma specialist or GP. They can normally indicate if you'd be suitable for something like that and it would save you £25 image

  • No 2 Child has asthma.  I'm not in favour of longterm steroid use, for obvious reasons, but in all the appointments he's had and treatment been given at no point has anyone suggested "exercises" to train his lungs.  

    I'm with Intermanaut, more snake oil than useful.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    Jeepers wrote (see)

    No 2 Child has asthma.  I'm not in favour of longterm steroid use, for obvious reasons, but in all the appointments he's had and treatment been given at no point has anyone suggested "exercises" to train his lungs.  

    I'm with Intermanaut, more snake oil than useful.


    When my Mother In Law was in hospital they gave her one of these to practice on. The aim is to build up the muscles in the lungs by blowing at a certain rate for a certain period of time. It worked for her (but she's in her 70's and had a weak lung capacity). I'm not sure about it for asthma sufferers but I guess a Doctor would be the best person to ask?

  • There's a few research papers on PubMed. One suggests that it *might* be useful for people with already-weakened respiratory ability, but there's no point in them being used by athletes.
  • Maybe it depends on cause / problem.  No 2 Child does lung function tests and we have one of those things that they use to measure it at home - maybe he doesn't have weak lungs, just "asthmatised" lungs.
  • I just stumbled upon this via twitter:

    http://www.powerbreathe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Powerbreathepresentation2.pdf

    So the answer might be 'possibly'

    Mine has languished at the bottom of the drawer since I bought it.  I was travelling at the time and didn't fancy trying to carry stuff round to keep it clean.

  • Pointing at a PowerBreathe PowerPoint slideshow as "possible support" is not how science works!
  • OH and I both have one, haven't used either of them for at least 2 years. Never seemed to do much for my lungs.

  • Im-naut, but the fact it references (I'm assuming) peer reviewed research does allow you to go off to read further around the subject.

  • One of the references is to a "paper" written by the woman behind PowerBreathe - discount that one - it's not peer-reviewed. She has no published material that relates to the product.

    The second reference is available, in full, here. It refers to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It also says this:

    [quote]
    Studies that have specifically trained the respiratory muscles have reported either an improvement or no change in whole body exercise tolerance. A concern with all of these studies, however, is that endurance performance was evaluated using fixed work-rate tasks sustained to the limit of tolerance. Such tests do not accurately represent competitive endurance performance and are often unreliable. Another concern is that many of these studies have used small sample sizes. Unreliable performance tests, combined with small sample sizes, may explain in part why some studies have found improvements in exercise tolerance but failed to achieve statistical significance. In addition, most of the studies have not used a placebo group, rendering the findings difficult to interpret.
    [/quote]
  • ChloboChlobo ✭✭✭
    argh this is tricky....it seems some people are saying they felt a positive effect then got bored/distracted and stopped using it, and others saying it's just a load of nonsense.

    Anyone want to sell me their's they no longer use?... or is that gross?... can they be cleaned?...

    I am keen to improve lung function because I am fit but given some circumstances (cold/damp) my lungs seems to give up and it's really frustrating - gah b*gger off asthma!
  • I read into these a couple of years ago, just before I was diagnosed with asthma image I looked at the evidence and thought it sounded like snake oil but still had a look for a few reviews. The concensus  seemed to be people either saying the PB was snake oil or that people only felt a benefit when they used the PB consistently.
  • I bought one a few years ago and I get it out every now and then when I feel like I might be able to put some time into using it, and then give up after a few uses. I found the original ones more of a pain to use than anything. Not sure about the newer version. 

    I have some friends with asthma and they don't use anything like it.

Sign In or Register to comment.