POWERbreathe Plus IMT
POWERbreathe uses the basic principles of resistance training – just as you might use weights to strengthen your arm muscles, breathing in through POWERbreathe against the light, variable resistance makes your breathing muscles work harder, thereby increasing their strength and endurance.
Within a few days of using this drug-free, easy-to-use hand-held device, your breathing muscles will feel stronger; within 3-weeks you’ll feel less breathless and within 4 weeks, everyday activities will feel easier.
Who will benefit from using POWERbreathe?
- People with a respiratory condition such as asthma (including exercise-induced), COPD, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis (also suitable for children aged 10 under adult supervision)
- People with a debilitating condition such as heart failure, heart disease, spinal injury
- People unaccustomed to regular physical exercise
- Anyone who gets out of breath easily
- Seniors
Laboratory Proven Training Regimen
- Twice a day simply breathe in 30 times through the device against the adjustable resistance. It takes less than 5-minutes.
- As your breathing muscle strength improves, simply adjust and increase the resistance as you would with any other form of exercise.
- Within a few days your inspiratory muscles will feel stronger; within 3-weeks you’ll feel less breathless, and within 4 weeks every-day activities will feel easier.
Precautions & Contraindications
POWERbreathe IMT is drug free, suitable for almost anyone and should cause no harmful side effects when used properly. Please read the following precautions and contraindications to ensure that POWERbreathe IMT is used safely and appropriately.
Precautions:
- The patient must not make changes to any prescribed medication or prescribed treatment programme without consulting their doctor.
- The K-Series devices are not intended for use by persons with reduced physical, sensory or mental capabilities, unless they have been given supervision or instruction concerning use of the appliance by a person responsible for their safety.
- Do not use the POWERbreathe whilst taking part in other activities where you may become distracted, such as walking, running and driving.
- If you have a pacemaker or other medical implant containing magnets or electronics, please consult with your doctor before using the POWERbreathe K-Series devices.
- POWERbreathe should not be used if the patient is suffering from a ruptured eardrum or any other condition of the eardrum.
- It is not recommended to use POWERbreathe if you have suffered from or are likely to suffer from Costochondritis.
- To prevent the potential transmission of infections, we recommend that POWERbreathe is not shared with other users, including family members.
- This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
- POWERbreathe is designed for exercising the inspiratory muscles only. No other use is intended or implied.
- Anyone who is under the age of 16 should only use POWERbreathe with supervision from an adult. POWERbreathe contains small parts and is not suitable for children under 7 years.
- Whilst training with POWERbreathe the patient should feel resistance when inhaling but it should not be painful. If the patient feels pain whilst using POWERbreathe they should stop immediately and consult their doctor.
- Some users may experience slight ear discomfort when training with POWERbreathe, especially if they are recovering from a cold. This is caused by inadequate equalisation of pressure between the mouth and ears. If symptoms persist, patients should consult their doctor.
- If a patient is suffering from a cold, sinusitis or respiratory tract infection, we advise that they do not use POWERbreathe until symptoms have disappeared.
- If you start to feel dizzy using POWERbreathe IMT, please pause until recovered and take longer gaps between breaths.
Healthcare Professional should take into consideration the following conditions before patients use POWERbreathe:
- A history of spontaneous pneumothorax (a collapsed lung that was not due to traumatic injury e.g. broken rib), as it may lead to a recurrence of the condition.
- Pulmonary hypertension or large bullae on chest x-ray.
- Marked osteoporosis with history of rib fractures.
- Desaturation during or following IMT (<94%).
Contraindications
Inspiratory muscle training, such as training with POWERbreathe, is not recommended for patients with certain conditions, including the following:
- Patients who have undergone recent abdominal surgery and those with an abdominal hernia.
- Asthma patients who have a very low symptom perception and suffer from frequent, severe exacerbations or with an abnormally low perception of dyspnoea
- If a patient is suffering from a ruptured eardrum or any other condition of the ear
- Patients with marked elevated left ventricular end-diastolic volume and pressure
- Patients with worsening heart failure signs and symptoms after RMT / IMT
- If you are suffering from a cold, sinusitis or respiratory tract infection, we advise that you do not use your POWERbreathe IMT device
Use, Care and Cleaning
Simply put the nose-clip on so that it pushes your nostrils together and then breathe in through the POWERbreathe (use a little extra effort than you would to breathe normally), and the device will do the rest. Improvement in breathing efficiency can be seen in as little as 4-weeks. Comes with full instructions.
Your POWERbreathe will be exposed to saliva during use. We recommend that a few times a week your POWERbreathe should be soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes (see the POWERbreathe Manual for full details), but once a week POWERbreathe should be soaked in a mild cleansing solution instead of water, using these POWERbreathe Cleansing Tablets – only 1 tablet is required each time.
Ben M (verified owner) –
Found it useful to being breathing training. Definitely noticed improvements in my asthma, but quickly upgraded to one of the K-Series. They are more expensive, but the real-time feedback allowed me to visually see improvements also.
J Hughes –
What a wonderful product this is. I have asthma and am also a runner. Since using the POWERbreathe I have reduced my steroid asthma inhaler dosage by 50% My aim is to increase POWERbreathe so to finish using a steroid inhaler. Thank you.
(Submitted online on behalf of J Hughes who provided this review via email.)