Difficulty breathing is a common complaint and a conundrum for the diagnostician. A spirometer is a type of pulmonary function monitor PFM), a device that measures the volume of air breathed in and out by the lungs. The printed output from the device will detect two different kinds of atypical ventilation patterns, restrictive and obstructive. There are several types of spirometers that use different approaches for measuring air movement (ultrasound, water gauge, pressure transducers). Today, there are also standalone and computer-based devices.
Lung function tests are utilized to eliminate the presence of serious pulmonary conditions such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. They are also performed to assess the influence on the lungs of medications or ambient contaminants, to help determine the cause of breathlessness and to evaluate the progress of treatments. Lung function tests are also performed before surgery on the lungs to take benchmark measurements of lung activity.
Noted Roman physician, Claudius Galen, was the first to assess lung function. Some time during the second century AD, he got a boy to breath in and out into a bladder. Years later, people used inverted bell jars in water. Modern instruments include whole body plethysmography, peak flow meters and a device called a pneumotachometer.
The vast majority of lung conditions are not serious and are easily treatable. It is important first to rule out a serious condition underlying the breathlessness. According to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, shortness of breath is defined as an intense feeling of chest tightness accompanied by a feeling of suffocation. This can occur in a single instance or it may have a more chronic pattern.
There are a handful of "red flag" signs which, when they occur at the same time as breathlessness, may indicate a serious underlying condition. These include persistent tiredness and pallor, a chronic wheeze or cough, ankle swelling, a pain that gets worse with exercise, breathlessness that worsens when lying down, any other unusual or recurring symptoms. A history of working with hazardous chemical fumes, asbestos, wood dust or in a coal mine is also something worth mentioning to the doctor.
Asthma, a chronic disease of the airways, is somewhat more serious. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, 18.9 million non-institutionalized adults have asthma at any one time. This represents 8.2 percent of that population.
Once any serious cause has been ruled out, most cases of breathlessness are related to one of two causes, bad respiratory habits and weak muscles; or trigger points, or muscle knots. These are both minor and easily treatable. The treatment is safe, free and almost fun. It consists of identifying and massaging trigger points.
A spirometer is an instrument that has been in use for two millennia to detect the cause of breathlessness. It can determine whether it is present and identify whether it is restrictive or obstructive but requires further investigations to rule out the presence of any serious conditions, such as emphysema, asthma or bronchitis. Once these have been eliminated from consideration, they may be attributable to either trigger points or incorrect breathing patterns.
Lung function tests are utilized to eliminate the presence of serious pulmonary conditions such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. They are also performed to assess the influence on the lungs of medications or ambient contaminants, to help determine the cause of breathlessness and to evaluate the progress of treatments. Lung function tests are also performed before surgery on the lungs to take benchmark measurements of lung activity.
Noted Roman physician, Claudius Galen, was the first to assess lung function. Some time during the second century AD, he got a boy to breath in and out into a bladder. Years later, people used inverted bell jars in water. Modern instruments include whole body plethysmography, peak flow meters and a device called a pneumotachometer.
The vast majority of lung conditions are not serious and are easily treatable. It is important first to rule out a serious condition underlying the breathlessness. According to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, shortness of breath is defined as an intense feeling of chest tightness accompanied by a feeling of suffocation. This can occur in a single instance or it may have a more chronic pattern.
There are a handful of "red flag" signs which, when they occur at the same time as breathlessness, may indicate a serious underlying condition. These include persistent tiredness and pallor, a chronic wheeze or cough, ankle swelling, a pain that gets worse with exercise, breathlessness that worsens when lying down, any other unusual or recurring symptoms. A history of working with hazardous chemical fumes, asbestos, wood dust or in a coal mine is also something worth mentioning to the doctor.
Asthma, a chronic disease of the airways, is somewhat more serious. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, 18.9 million non-institutionalized adults have asthma at any one time. This represents 8.2 percent of that population.
Once any serious cause has been ruled out, most cases of breathlessness are related to one of two causes, bad respiratory habits and weak muscles; or trigger points, or muscle knots. These are both minor and easily treatable. The treatment is safe, free and almost fun. It consists of identifying and massaging trigger points.
A spirometer is an instrument that has been in use for two millennia to detect the cause of breathlessness. It can determine whether it is present and identify whether it is restrictive or obstructive but requires further investigations to rule out the presence of any serious conditions, such as emphysema, asthma or bronchitis. Once these have been eliminated from consideration, they may be attributable to either trigger points or incorrect breathing patterns.
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