We are currently excited to be trialling PowerBreathe assessments on our staff.
There is evidence to show that you can strengthen your breathing muscles to be more efficient and powerful just like you'd train efficiency and power in any other muscles that help you move and perform.
PowerBreathe Training involves breathing in against a pressure load and has been shown to be the most effective way to train the inspiratory muscles. Think of it like “dumbells for your diaphragm”.
Moreover, there is evidence to show that Inspiratory Muscle Training can result in increased inspiratory flows and diaphragm activation, which can lead to increased oxygenation of the blood as well as intra-abdominal activation. Increased oxygenation means better muscular performance and increased intra-abdominal activation is a big factor in better athletic performance and injury-prevention.
The assessment involves breathing into a device that is connected to the clinician’s laptop, allowing immediate readouts and easy tracking of progress over a number of sessions.
Once assessed, subjects are then given a take home device that is set with an appropriate resistance level by the clinician. The training process involves breathing in against resistance with a type of breathing that increases the activation of the diaphragm.
Subjects in the research have been found to get up to a 20% improvement in oxygen peak flow and there have been some great outcomes for those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma as well as elite athletes.
We will keep you posted, but we hope these assessments and techniques will help you, our clients, breathe and function better in your day-to-day and athletic environments.
