The UK’s European university
EXERCISE
RESPIRATORY
CLINIC
Medway
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www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences
www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences
HELP IMPROVE YOUR TEAM’S
PERFORMANCE AND SUPPORT
YOUR ATHLETES
The University of Kent’s
School of Sport and
Exercise Sciences
provides a specialist
Respiratory Clinic
supporting athletes with
respiratory problems.
If athletes respiratory symptoms are
not caused by EIA the clinic can
carry out breathing assessments
to investigate for dysfunctional
breathing during high intensity
exercise. An individual, sports
specific breathing programme is
devised for the athlete based on
the results of their assessment.
* Gold standard as recommended
The Clinic provides solutions for
exercise respiratory issues in
athletes. Specialist physiologists
provide world leading tests for
Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA)
and Dysfunctional Breathing in
athletes.
A significant proportion of athletes
across a range of sports suffer from
EIA which is a transient narrowing
of the airways limiting expiration.
This often affects performance and
many athletes may be unaware of
their condition.
The challenge
EIA is experienced by over:
• 20% of Team GB Olympic
athletes
• 30% of professional rugby
players
• 20% of professional football
players
Up to 50% of athletes with
respiratory symptoms during
exercise receive an incorrect
diagnosis of EIA. Many symptoms
are not due to EIA. Alternative
respiratory issues may be caused
by dysfunctional breathing or
exercise induced laryngeal
obstruction. In addition, many
athletes may not recognise or fail to
by International Olympic Committee
and World Anti-Doping Agency to
diagnose EIA in athletes.
Benefits of testing for EIA
report EIA symptoms. Therefore,
without assessing your athletes on
an individual basis it is difficult to
successfully manage respiratory
issues in athletes.
The solution
The Clinic provides specific
assessments for EIA diagnosis in
athletes, which include analysis of
airway inflammation and indirect
airway challenges. These
assessments provide best practice
for the diagnosis of EIA. The indirect
airway challenge used at the clinic
is the Eucapnic Voluntary
Hyperpnoea (EVH) challenge –
considered be the ‘gold standard’
challenge to diagnose exercise
induced asthma in athletes.* Other
indirect tests such as Mannitol or
exercise can be organised on
request.
Accurate diagnosis and clear
indication of disease severity can
be completed in 1 hour with no
need to exercise. Follow-up tests
can optimise treatment. Once an
individual has been diagnosed with
EIA, well established treatment
pathways will result in control of
the EIA, resulting in no respiratory
limitation to an individual’s capacity
to exercise and take part in high
level sport.
Screening teams of
athletes
Many athletes do not recognise
symptoms of EIA and as a
consequence their performance,
recovery and health may be
impacted. The Clinic can perform
the EVH challenges at your training
grounds. This allows for the testing
of large groups of up to 15 players
in a four hour window.
Benefits of screening
teams
Every player is tested for EIA.
Players who do not recognise
symptoms of EIA will be detected
during the process. An added
benefit is that the testing being
done on site
Benefits of breathing
assessment
Breathing assessments identify
dysfunctional breathing during
exercise. The training programme
will directly address the symptoms
and inefficient breathing technique
athletes present with during the
assessments. The breathing training
programme is drug free. Athletes
can expect to see improvements in
their respiratory symptoms within 6
weeks. Following the programme
they will cope better with high
intensity exercise leading to
improved performance.
CASE STUDIES
GB Rower
Male heavy weight rower who had
just joined the senior GB Rowing
squad presented with exercise
respiratory symptoms during and
after high intensity exercise
sessions on the river. He
completed an EVH challenge
which demonstrated a 15% fall in
lung function (FEV1) after the test.
The EVH challenge provided
evidence the rower had mild EIA.
A 6 week follow-up EVH challenge
conducted whilst rower was using
his prescribed medication
indicated 6% improvement in
baseline lung function. No
evidence of EIA was present
following the EVH challenge. The
rower reported his post exercise
respiratory symptoms had reduced
significantly although symptoms
during rowing persisted. The rower
completed a breathing assessment
where it was concluded he also had
dysfunctional breathing technique.
The rower was given a specific
breathing training programme to
follow. Within 6 weeks the rower
reported that all exercise respiratory
symptoms had reduced significantly
and he could complete all high
intensity training sessions. Rower
has gone on to become a World and
Olympic Gold Medallist.
Premier League Screening
Premier football team asked for
all their first team players to be
screened for EIA using EVH
challenge. At the time of
screening the club did not have
any players with a current
diagnosis of EIA. Over the course
of two days 21 first team players
were tested. Six players (29%)
had a positive EVH challenge.
Four out of the six (66%) EVH
positive players did not have a
previous diagnosis of EIA. The
two players with a previous EIA
diagnosis were not currently
using any medication to treat EIA.
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Contact: John Dickinson
Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Sciece
T: 01634 202998
E: [email protected]
www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences/
respiratoryclinic/index.html
Respiratory Clinic, Medway Park Sports Centre
Mill Road, Gillingham, ME7 1HF
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences
Medway Building, University of Kent, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4AG
DPC 114809 5/13
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INFORMATION