happy + healthy
athletes and asthma
As many as 90%
of asthma sufferers
report asthma
symptoms during
exercise.
EXERCISEINDUCED
ASTHMA
Exercise-induced asthma is chronic inflammation of the passageways of the lungs due
to a variety of triggers such as air contaminants, stress, or sensitivities to changes in
temperature and humidity when exercising.
When the bronchi of the lungs react to one
or more of those triggers, the inflation begins and causes symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness/pain, coughing, wheezing, and fatigue.
We reached out to Dr. Dan Carter of Children’s Hospital and
Greenvale Pediatrics who says, “It is tough to pin down one
cause. Some experience this due to seasonal allergies and only
get symptoms in certain seasons. Others experience this as part
of their constant asthma that affects their lungs all of the time.”
Dr. Green shared more information on exercise-induced asthma
and his advice on how student athletes can manage their asthma
and still enjoy their favorite sports.
Q
How do you differentiate between
exercise-induced asthma and just being
winded?
Those who suffer from this describe an almost suffocating feeling
in which it is difficult to get enough air in or out. The winded
feeling from strenuous exercise is short-lived, and a short rest
usually takes away that feeling completely. Exercise-induced
asthma can sometimes go away on its own, but takes much longer and often requires an inhaler to open the lungs to br XZ