Respiratory Services

The Respiratory Clinic is available to provide a range of assessments to diagnose and treat respiratory problems in athletes such as, exercise induced asthma (EIA) and dysfunctional breathing. As well as a range of testing, we also offer breathing training both in person and remotely to optimise your breathing and health.

Professor. John Dickinson is an Exercise Respiratory Physiologist with a specialism in assessing exercise respiratory symptoms in athletes. He has tested over 1,000 elite athletes from a range of sports including all Olympic and many professional sports, such as rugby and Premier League football.

Why is respiratory disease and dysfunctional breathing an issue with athletes?

• Over 20% of the athletes involved with Great British Olympic Team have exercise induced asthma
• A number of athletes with exercise induced asthma go undiagnosed as they fail to report symptoms
• Diagnosis significantly improves athletic performance and health
• It is possible respiratory symptoms experienced during exercise are not related to asthma

The Respiratory Clinic provides a range of diagnostic tests for exercise induced asthma, including the Eucapnic Voluntary Hyperpnoea (EVH) challenge – considered by the World Anti – Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee to be the ‘gold standard’ challenge to diagnose exercise induced asthma in elite athletes.

Testing enables

• Accurate diagnosis of asthma and other breathing problems,
• avoiding false positives and the dangers of conditions going untreated
• Athletes to receive optimal treatment

Once an individual has been diagnosed with asthma/EIA, well established treatment pathways will usually result in full control of the disease and no limitation to an individual’s capacity to exercise and take part in high level sport.

The specialists at Respiratory Clinic have developed a unique respiratory programme for those elite athletes who experience respiratory symptoms during exercise that are not explained by respiratory disease. The programme combines a focus on breathing techniques, posture work and inspiratory muscle training and has proven success in reducing and eliminating respiratory symptoms during exercise.