Long Covid Pathway > Breathing
Back to Week 2-5: Themes
Breathing
The Breathing theme is for any Clients struggling with symptoms of breathlessness, cough and other issues related to their breathing. The focus is on educating on why breathing issues arise in long covid, teaching the core principles of 'good' breathing and introducing a number of exercises that can help.
This theme comprises a week's worth of content, with exercises ongoing.
Background
An understanding of the following key concepts is required ahead of coaching users through the Breathing Theme. Please review the following resources:
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UCLH NHST: Retraining Your Breathing Part 1 and Part 2
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British Lung Foundation: Breathlessness Support Series (1 to 4)
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British Lung Foundation: Managing a Cough
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NHS Your Covid Recovery: Breathlessness
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Physiotherapy for Breathing Pattern Disorders: Covid-19 Breathing Guide
Call Template
The following template outlines the structure of the Week 1 session and the key components to cover.
Outline of the Session
The aim of this session is to:
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Allow the Client to share more on how their breathing is affecting them. Gain an understanding of the restrictions that arise due to breathing issues and how this is affecting their day-to-day.
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Introduce the concepts of 'good breathing', educate on the mechanics of breathing and how this can get out-of-sync with long covid.
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Suggest and outline some exercises that may help establish better breathing habits. Provide advice on how to better manage breathlessness, both in pacing /planning to avoid triggers and in reducing it when it does occur.
You will then be able to share a number of educational articles and video breathing exercises.
If chronic cough is also an issue for the Client, you can also introduce concepts and exercises relevant to this, i.e. the Active Cycle of Breathing and how to suppress a chronic cough
Resources to Activate
Following the video call session, the following resources should be activated for the Client to review. Select the content that you think will be most relevant to the Client based on the session.
You can click on each of the tiles to view the full article or video.