Physical training in adults with asthma: An integrative approach on strategies, mechanisms, and benefits.
Fabiano Francisco de Lima, David Halen Araújo Pinheiro, Celso Ricardo Fernandes de Carvalho
PMID 36873818WHAT IT FOUND
Physical training improves asthma control, quality of life, exercise capacity, and sleep while reducing anxiety, depression, and medication use.
Breathing exercises offer similar benefits to aerobic training. Both are safe and effective non-pharmacological therapies, though exercise-induced bronchoconstriction does not consistently improve.
Key findings
01Physical training improves asthma control, quality of life, exercise capacity, sleep, and mental health while reducing medication use and inflammation.
02Aerobic training and breathing exercises produce similar improvements in clinical control, quality of life, symptoms, psychological distress, and physical activity.
03Exercise training significantly improves bronchial hyperresponsiveness but does not show a significant effect on exercise-induced bronchoconstriction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review is narrative rather than a systematic review or meta-analysis, so it may be subject to selection bias. Improvements in lung function may be distorted by including heterogeneous populations, particularly obese patients who lost weight. The lack of effect on exercise-induced bronchoconstriction may be due to poor standardization of testing protocols across studies. Mechanisms for some benefits, such as the link between cardiopulmonary fitness and quality of life, are not fully understood.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume exercise training consistently reduces exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). While it improves bronchial hyperresponsiveness, the meta-analysis on EIB showed no significant difference compared to controls, likely due to varying test standards.