Techniques to help improve breathing

Various techniques can help improve breathing including Buteyko Breathing Technique and pursed lip breathing.

One thing you might try is an adaptation of postural drainage, assuming different positions using gravity to help drain the lungs and airways. Even if you are not coughing up sputum, posturing can sometimes help with a “clogged up” feeling.

As long as you have days now and then that you still get that “cloggy feeling” in your airways, you might try doing the postural drainage every day, just to keep it under control. That's a pro-active approach I found was useful.

If you don't have any problem with dizziness, and you are strong enough, you might try a few yoga stretches, especially the downward-dog for several seconds at a time. Don't push yourself, but see if you can find postures that will use gravity to help your airways open.

Belinda, MarshallProtocol.com

-When I was a teenager (40+ years ago), my allergy specialist was treating me for asthma and upper respiratory allergies. His method for clearing the lungs was for the patient to lie on their bed from the waist down and have the upper part of the body resting on their arms/hands against the floor – and then cough. When the congestion was really bad, he said to have someone in the room with me in case I passed out. The “gunk” came up really well.

DNStog, MarshallProtocol.com

I have been looking for some kind of exercise I can do with my limited lung capacity. The other day I was sitting on the side of the bed with my arms crossed on my lap next to my abdomen, and I bent the trunk of my body over my arms while exhaling and sat back up while inhaling.

I discovered this felt pretty good. I have found I can do this repeatedly at about my normal breathing rate for a half hour, and I actually appear to get pinker instead of turning blue as I usually do with exertion.

After I am finished I find that I am mentally relaxed and physically tired (in a good way). I have been doing this for about a week now each day. Sometimes I do a little at bed time and it helps me get to sleep. I have also found I can lean further back and do almost a full sit-up.

Morris W. Milnes, MarshallProtocol.com

• Sit up straight and breathe in thru your nose as deeply as possible.
• Hold your breath (if possible) for up to 10 seconds.
• Then, blow out through your mouth, and blow and blow and blow as far out as you can like when you take a breathing test.

This will get most of the carbon dioxide out of your lungs thus allowing for more oxygen in your lungs. You should repeat this 10 times in a row slowly (we do not want you to pass out). Do not repeat too fast. This can be done at least four times a day. This can be done almost anywhere you are.

Barney, MarshallProtocol.com

Cupping the hand for percussion creates a cushion of air which may help to loosen secretions. A therapist told us to do this on the back, sides and around where the lungs were. The goal was to loosen the stuff in the lungs. It may or may not work for you on the area where you feel clogged, but it is worth a try.

Cup your hand, making a little arch where the knuckles are. Then, not hitting hard (goal is not to bruise), but still firm, move around the lung areas on back, sides and where possible in the front, too. We did this several times a day… It helped loosen the gunk in the airways and lungs. She would cough productively after that.

You might enlist the help of co-worker for your back at work. Might want to do a more thorough 10 min session proactively a.m. and p.m. around work hours with help of husb. as opposed to short session just reactively when clog appears at work.

jrfoutin, MarshallProtocol.com

Pursed lip breathing is used for COPD symptoms and also can help endurance.

A patient of mine once told me that she used this simple mantra to help her remember how to perform the exercise:
“Smell the rose; blow out the candle.”

Deborah Leader, RN, About.com Guide

The Buteyko Breathing Technique is a holistic health philosophy, primarily for the treatment of asthma, that includes a set of breathing exercises developed by the late Russian doctor, Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko. The method is taught as a complementary therapy, and several small clinical trials have shown that it can safely reduce asthma symptoms and the need for reliever medication in some people, as well as increasing quality of life scores. However, improvement takes time and commitment, requiring daily exercises over a period of weeks or months, and tuition can be expensive. This page explains the actual method in full.