Pre and Post-op
Preoperative inspiratory muscle training is associated with a reduction of postoperative complications, including pneumonia, plus a reduction in hospital stay.
Breathing Effort Following Surgery
Breathing complications after major surgery can include pneumonia, bronchospasm and respiratory failure. In fact, weakness of the inspiratory muscles (the muscles you use to breathe in) was found in 25% of preoperative cardiac surgery patients in this trial.
Inspiratory muscle weakness can also be the result of a number of causes, but the amount of ‘exercise’ your breathing muscles receive has a huge influence upon their condition. So by exercising your inspiratory muscles with POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) it seems logical that you can improve their condition to stand you in good stead prior to surgery.
Train Your Breathing Prior To Surgery
Respiratory rehabilitation is standard care for surgical patients and includes deep‐breathing exercises, thoracic physiotherapy, incentive spirometry and preoperative IMT.
Training your breathing muscles at home prior to surgery has been shown to make breathing easier, as well as helping to strengthen your respiratory muscles after surgery. In fact, this systematic review into ‘Preoperative IMT for postoperative pulmonary complications in adults undergoing cardiac and major abdominal surgery’ shows that breathing muscle training before surgery reduced the risk of some lung complications after surgery, as well as, the length of hospital stay, compared with usual care.
Furthermore, this clinical trial found that just five days of preoperative IMT reduced the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications and duration of postoperative hospitalisation in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
Evidence-Based, Drug-Free Breathing Training
POWERbreathe IMT is easily performed at home and the trials referred to in this review did not report any undesirable effects associated with breathing training and is a suitable preparation for planned surgery, especially for adults awaiting high‐risk heart and abdominal surgery. Speak to your GP first. Read Precautions and Contraindications.
The POWERbreathe K-Series device has been chosen for inspiratory muscle training in a large multi-centre, preoperative study in the NHS, called the Inspire Study. This NHS study will be investigating whether daily IMT with POWERbreathe helps to reduce the chances of getting a lung complication after surgery.
The POWERbreathe Medic offers an evidence-based, drug-free treatment for patients in a variety of medical conditions such as thoracic surgery. The newer POWERbreathe Medic Plus is designed for people who have very weak breathing muscles such as post-illness or post-hospitalisation.
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Neuromuscular Disease
Respiratory complication is one of the most common progressive conditions associated with neuromuscular disease or disorder (NMD) and may be the result of inspiratory muscle weakness. You’ll notice signs such as extreme shortness of breath from slight effort, also known as dyspnoea; and use of your accessory respiratory muscles, which indicates effort when breathing. This […]
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Blood Pressure
Research aired on NPR (National Public Radio) in the USA highlighted findings of how daily breath training with POWERbreathe IMST, using the POWERbreathe K3, can work as well as medicine to reduce high blood pressure. A subsequent retrospective analysis of the aforementioned research provides the strongest evidence to date that POWERbreathe IMST (Inspiratory Muscle Strength […]
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Asthma
Breathing Effort In Asthma You’ll be familiar with symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. If your asthma is not well controlled you may find it difficult to breathe; breathe with short shallow breaths; or feel that you can’t maintain your usual level of activity. Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT), […]
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COPD
Breathing Effort In COPD If you have COPD, emphysema or chronic bronchitis, you will have weak breathing muscles, making it harder for you to get air in and out of your lungs. Dyspnoea, a feeling of difficult, laboured breathing or shortness of breath, is common in COPD, and breathing muscle weakness is a contributory factor […]
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Covid Recovery
Because COVID-19 is a new infection, long-term research has yet to be conducted. However, this article highlights a link between inspiratory muscle performance and COVID-19. The Risk Reduction Model in the article suggests home-based respiratory muscle training (RMT), such as POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT), could be prescribed to patients with impaired respiratory performance. RMT […]
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Heart failure and Disease
Breathing Effort In Heart Failure And Heart Disease Heart failure usually results from another disease, most commonly coronary heart disease. They have similar symptoms, including shortness of breath (known as dyspnea) and fatigue which affect how physically active you are. With heart failure, your heart is unable to properly pump blood around your body, causing […]
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Stroke
Effect Of Breathing Fatigue In Stroke Recovery Not only does stroke affect you psychologically and cognitively, but physically too. One aspect of stroke is the feeling of extreme tiredness, or post-stroke fatigue, making movement feel harder and requiring more energy leading to a reduction in tolerance to exercise. Respiratory muscle strength is impaired after stroke […]
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Relevant Articles
POWERbreathe Medic Evidence-Based IMT
Inspiratory muscle weakness is inherent in various patient groups but is most common in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Heart Failure and Neuromuscular disease. Weakness of the inspiratory muscles can result from a number of causes, including disease. Difficulty breathing is a sign of inspiratory weakness, and a major sign of serious disease of the […]
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Isolated IMT helped decrease postoperative pulmonary complications and the length of hospital stay
IMT is a beneficial intervention when given 2 weeks before surgery for a minimum of 15 minutes in reducing postoperative pulmonary complications following abdominal surgery
IMT can significantly decrease the risk of pneumonia and atelectasis after coronary artery bypass grafting while shortening hospitalization and improving the strength of respiratory muscles
