| Overview |
| About
sport and asthma |
| What
says science |
| Consequencies
of inactivity |
| Sports
for a better breath |
| An
advice for the kids |
| An
advice for the parents and physitians |
| The
program of swimming |
|
|
| About sport and
asthma |
|
| A decade and more ago, the common advice was
to keep patients with asthma from strenuous physical activities and to limit
their involvement in sports. Today this viewpoint is out of date. Doctors
are becoming more and more aware of the influence of sports on the health
of their patients. After conversing with a few students of the Faculty of
Sport, it has been noted that, as well as the author, they started to take
more interest in sports in puberty, and simultaneously their asthma-connected
problems receded. Even Lahkera et al (research) have discovered that the
development of lungs in adolescence crucially contributes to the state of
lung functions in adulthood, making participation in sports and developing
motoric skills while growing up essential for health and the state of the
disorder in adulthood. By developing lung capabilities to a certain level,
attained with regular exercise in adolescence, and maintained and developed
in adulthood, the severity of asthma can be reduced or even silenced to
the level, where it is said to be present, but without any symptoms. In
spite of that, there may come a time, when the symptoms reoccur, even after
years of being dormant. In such case it is wise to consult a doctor, to
try and find the cause for the deterioration and to adjust our exercises
to the state of the disorder. |
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|
| What says
science |
|
| Drawing from experience and after extensive studies
of literature, it is believed that a patient suffering from a mild or moderate
form of asthma can still relatively successfully participate in many sports.
In a research carried out in Germany, they questioned 2060 top athletes
competing nationally and internationally in various disciplines. As many
as 147 (7.1 percent) answered that they noticed the symptoms of a bronchial
obstruction. Actually, based on research, we can claim that not a single
sport is unsuitable for asthmatics. Even the unwritten rule, stating that
asthmatics should stick to sports that end quickly or do not test the limits
of endurance, can be disproved easily. |
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| Consequencies
of inactivity |
|
| Lack of motion and unequal treatment of asthma
patients in childhood can have a detrimental effect to the disorder in the
future. In this way a child is deprived of numerous psychosocial and physical
advantages, which leads to social isolation and mental problems, causing
chronic absence of motion. Absence of motion causes the reduction of motoric
skills and consequently the reduction of functional capabilities of the
organism. This leads to a general deterioration of health and makes the
disorder worse. The consequence is an even greater psychophysical withdrawal
and the vicious cycle between inactivity and the disorder is complete. We
can break out of it only by using an adequately adapted kinesiotherapy program. |
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| Sport
for a better breath |
|
Sport is a must and a nice way of overcoming
disease nad getting healthy. A therapy that includes sport/movement -
that is, kinesiotherapy, must in the long run, full or at least in part,
replace a passive healing with medicines. But exercise must be accompanied
with medicines that control asthma, especcialy in the beginning due to
individual changes in the state of asthma, and due to only starting to
know peculiarities of bodily responses to exertion
With a consistent exercise we tolerate in a better way exertion. Despite
possible occasional trouble we must bear in mind the long term benefits
of sport and in doing so we should not shy away at first worsening. Once
we start the adaptation mechanisms of the body, abetter feeling of oneself
is just a matter of time.
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| An advice for
the kids |
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| Because of the nature of asthma we should not
generalize based on specific examples, but the case of Susan Auch, who won
Olympic silver in speed skating, reveals a lot. Susan says that her parents
encouraged her to do anything she wanted all the time. Her doctor also believed
that sports can only do her good. She was not hindered by her parents, they
did not show fear and they always supported her. Her advice to young people
with asthma is: “You have to see what the limits are and you'll never see
what the limits are unless you keep trying.” |
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| An advice
for the parents and physitians |
|
| Advising an asthma patient ‘a priori’ that he
should not do any sports is unjustified. The nature of the individual’s
disorder should be known, as well as the sport he or she wishes to participate
in (or does) and the intensity of the exertion. If the patient wants to
be maximally exerted while competing on elite level, he or she must be more
careful than when only enjoying recreative sports or tending to his or her
psycho-physical condition. Usually the patients themselves choose sports
appropriate for them. The duty of the kinesiotherapist and/or doctor is
not to choose a sport for patients or forbid them from doing it, but to
advise and to teach them how to safely participate in it, and how to monitor
the disorder and lead a healthy life. |
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