Info for Medical ProfessionalsInfo for Medical Professionals
GPs are busy people and may not know of Buteyko or that it is included in the Asthma Guidelines.
1) A brief summary, in PDF format, of the Buteyko Method for GPs is available by clicking on this link Buteyko Guide for Doctors.
2) A more detailed explanation, in PDF format, is available by clicking on Buteyko Method for GPs, by Peter Kolb, BSc(Eng), MSc(Med), Biomedical Engineer. This is a clear, accurate description of the Buteyko method, and of the role of Buteyko practitioners. Read this if nothing else for a good overview. Many references at the end.
Excellent websites include:
Artour Rakhimov very good descriptions and illustrations of the science behind the success of the Buteyko Method, plus access to comprehensive information for Buteyko practitioners or advanced students
BBC Programmes On Effectiveness of Buteyko method 2) BBC Spotlight 2006 Cornwall
Doctors' testimonials about the Buteyko Method
Since I have been sharing the Buteyko technique with my asthmatic patients, I have seen an incredibly high degree of disease reversals, let alone reduced inhaler use and hospitalisations. I have also noticed that far more aspects of these peoples lives have improved, not only their asthma. Apart from the powerful improvements in respiratory condition, I believe the time spent in focusing on the breath, in the 'shallows of thought', reduce the over-burden of the stress-response in our bodies, hereby allowing a more natural state-of-being, towards optimal health. A liberating tool indeed.
Dr Jon Morley, MBChB, IBCMT
I've been astonished and also very pleased with the excellent result. There is no disruption of their life at all by their disease: normal activities; not waking at night; not needing to use any reliever medications. It's just great...75% control is about as good as anyone has got in any study of asthma. The neat thing about it is that it has no side effects. It's very safe. The Buteyko technique certainly has been shown to be an important adjunct to treatment
Dr Bob Cowie, Calgary Trial of the Buteyko Method, Canada
Having heard remarkable reports from my patients who did the Buteyko course, my son and I tried it out. I learned how to eliminate a migraine headache and my son's asthma, made worse by cold and exercise was noticeably better just by doing the exercises. At the six weeks follow-up everyone had made progress, e.g. from asthma, fatigue from sleep problems, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic attacks and improvement in athletic performance. And there was a sense of confidence that the exercises could continue to provide relief of symptoms. I noticed my sleep quality was better too. I feel confident in recommending this course to my patients who have asthma, sleep problems, anxiety and panic attacks and sleep apnea. I believe every health professional should experience the course for themselves. The theory in itself is well worth hearing as it makes sense and its practical application is the evidence of its efficacy. It's quite possible that Buteyko breathing could have much wider health applications.
Anne O'Reilly, MB BCh FRNZCGP, New Zealand
All published studies on the Buteyko breathing technique, including one which we performed in Gisborne, have shown positive results. Reductions of reliever medications averaged 85 to 95 percent and reductions in preventer medication 40 to 50 percent.
Dr Bruce Duncan MB, ChB, MSc, MRCGP, MFPHM, FAFPHM, DCH, Gisborne Hospital, Australia; Dr Patrick McHugh, BMedSc, MB, ChB, DipGUMed, Dip MSM, Emergency Department, Gisborne Hospital, Australia
In our association during the past 3-4 years on a purely anecdotal basis, I can say that the vast majority of all of my patients have received great benefit from their nasal symptoms following instruction at the Buteyko workshops. More recently we have almost completed a prospective study which indicates that there is a 75-80% improvement in nasal symptoms which persists at 3 month follow-up as long as the patients continue the exercises.
Prof John Fenton, ENT Consultant, Limerick Regional Hospital
I am a nurse and I can honestly say we were never properly trained in this area, nor are the doctors. I have given many a talk on teaching breathing around the world and have never had a doctor not totally appreciate my information. I have read the respiratory text books doctors are trained with in medical school. It is more likely that you have unlearned very early the good breathing you were born with if you were an average kid. In the United States most children by three years old are over-breathing. Awareness is the only key we have to staying ‘as best we can’ on target with proper breathing. With awareness, we need the knowledge of what to do, and then how to change our habitual breathing response to that situation in that moment.
Rosemary MacGregor, RN, M.S., USA
The simple fact is that 34 patients, prior to Buteyko, were costing £15,000 for their asthma medication; after Buteyko, they were costing £5,000. That's a reduction of two-thirds in their drugs bill. If this was extended to the rest of the country, very significant savings could be made.
Dr Gerald Spence, GP, Glasgow, UK
Those practicing Buteyko Breathing Technique reduced hyperventilation and their use of beta2-agonists. A trend toward reduced inhaled steroid use and better quality of life was observed in these patients without objective changes in measures of airway caliber.
Dr Simon D Bowler, FRACP, Thoracic Physician, Charles A Mitchell, FRACP, Associate Professor, Australia
Professor Buteyko's principles are entirely consistent with the physiological facts established by medical research 120 years ago. The Buteyko system makes use of the person's own resources and trains them in taking responsibility for their own health. They become less dependent on outside agencies such as hospitals, doctors and physiotherapists, thereby reducing the costs to the health service.
Dr Godfrey Nelson, M.B.B.A, F.R.A.C, G.P., UK
It changed my life. Before, I could barely walk up stairs now I can manage a 10-mile hike. I was using my puffer four times a day as well as steroids and now I'm off all drugs.
Dr John Stanley, British National Public Health Laboratory, UK
Over the last two years I have examined many patients before and after the [Buteyko] course and found the improvement to be repeatable to the degree that patients in over 90% of cases can stop medical treatment, or reduce it to less than half, of that, which was previously required. I attended the tutorials and found the approach, tuition and the method to be responsible and safe. As a medical doctor and Naturopath, I am impressed and surprised at the effectiveness and safety of this natural approach...
Dr Paul Ameison, MBBS, MD, DAC, ND, UK
As lung specialists we know from clinical experience that even spending a small amount of time teaching patients how to manage their condition and control their breathing appropriately can reduce both the number of asthma attacks and improve their quality of life.
Dr John Harvey, Chair of the British Thoracic Society communications committee, UK
This method was originally designed to help people overcome asthma, yet the benefits extend to many different maladies. If you have asthma, snoring, sleep apnea, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, chronic cough, anxiety or panic, insomnia or any other stress-related condition, I would encourage you to learn more about this. If it sounds a bit like snake oil, it’s only because breathing, specifically poor breathing technique, is the cornerstone to so many breathing disorders. Learning to breathe properly can result in a dramatic improvement in your health and significantly reduce the amount of medication used for chronic conditions.
Dr Larry Greenblatt, family and sports medicine physician, Issaquah, WA, New Zealand
I've worked as a physiotherapist for 20 years, worked with asthmatics in the hospitals, and there is nothing to compare with the effects we can get out of Buteyko therapy.
Tess Graham, BSc Grad Dip Phty. Dip.BM
The Buteyko method … use intermittent hypoventilation and have been used to successfully treat conditions as varied as Asthma, Chronic Fatigue, Sleep Apnea, Infertility, Immune Dysfunction and Allergy, Obesity, Angina and Hypertension. The pathophysiology of Hyperventilation and the subsequent depletion of carbon dioxide and alkaline reserve has been described in the medical literature since soon after the turn of the century and the recognition of Hyperventilation symptom patterns has existed since the time of Hippocrates. It is considered that at least 1 in 10 of healthy people Hyperventilate, the percentage would be expected to be much higher in those with symptoms or chronic illness. Yet Hyperventilation goes mostly undetected and inadequately treated. People can develop a large number of symptoms with Hyperventilation. These can affect all the major systems of the body including the nervous, circulatory, digestive and respiratory systems. Many medical conditions have been linked with breathing. In Dr Fried's excellent and well referenced book on the Hyperventilation Syndrome he gives details of the way that hyperventilation is linked with conditions such as epilepsy, migraine, angina, hypertension, heart rhythm irregularity, brain hypoxia and mental disorders.
Rosalba Courtney, ND, DO, DipAc, CA, Australia