I was watching the news last night and they had a story where hospitals use harmonicas to increase lung capacity in patients with respitory problems like emphesyma (I think that is how you spell it). I got me to think, would a 5 dollar harmonica do about the same as a 80 dollar PowerLung?
Triathlon Forum
Login required to started new threads
Login required to post replies
Re: Increasing Lung Capacity [JamesO]
[ In reply to ]
...probably.. but you don't have the illness that the harmonica is being used to help treat the individuals you noted. What I mean is that the harmonica is a tool being used to control the ability to breath properly... it doesn't (literally) increase lung capacity. It only allows the lungs to use it's ability to it's fullest by providing proper muscle control for those individuals who have problems with muscle control. I have seen no research to the contrary.
So, if your intention is use it to increase lung capacity in order to improve your athletic performance then that's not likely to happen (unless you happen to have muscular/neurological issues). The key to performance improvement has more to do with efficiency of oxygen useage (in an overly simplistic way) by the body. You could have the biggest lung capacity in world but if your body can process the oxygen efficeintly into the blood stream it a mute point. That is what training does and a PowerLung will not likely add a whole lot (if any) into the equation.
So, yes you could get the same effect out a harmonica as the PowerLung... but, the PowerLung doesn't provide that much of an advantage in the first place. But if you must make a value to cost comparison... you could stuff a small straw in your mouth and use a nose clip... that might set you back only a buck or two.
FWIW Joe Moya
So, if your intention is use it to increase lung capacity in order to improve your athletic performance then that's not likely to happen (unless you happen to have muscular/neurological issues). The key to performance improvement has more to do with efficiency of oxygen useage (in an overly simplistic way) by the body. You could have the biggest lung capacity in world but if your body can process the oxygen efficeintly into the blood stream it a mute point. That is what training does and a PowerLung will not likely add a whole lot (if any) into the equation.
So, yes you could get the same effect out a harmonica as the PowerLung... but, the PowerLung doesn't provide that much of an advantage in the first place. But if you must make a value to cost comparison... you could stuff a small straw in your mouth and use a nose clip... that might set you back only a buck or two.
FWIW Joe Moya
The simple answer to the harmonica question is: Nope.
Emphysema is a disease of lung parenchyma elasticity, causing the lung tissue to become distended and OVERinflated. The problem is due to an inability to EXHALE as much as gas as a normal, more elastic lung. Consequently, carbon dioxide levels in the blood increase, oxygen levels in the blood decrease. Air trapping is THE big problem with emphyematous lungs. The first way the body tries to compensate is usually what is referred to as "pursed lip" breathing. This is simply making your lips pucker, like you were going to whistle, and blowing out through pursed lips. This technique "props open" the airways somewhat, providing a kind of gas stent effect, that allows more air to be exhaled before the inevitable gas trapping effect shuts off the remaining gas in the alveoli. Blowing on a harmonica simply mimics the normal pursed lip breathing.
Look, "lung capacity expanders" or whatever they call themselves, are basically worthless. A strong person can even put themselves into pulmonary edema by sucking in too hard on them. Not a good thing. A normal person has about twice the amount of lung tissue required to meet all the gas exchange requirements of participating in athletic events...actually, an Ironman distance event is less limited by lung capacity than running a 5K as fast as you can. What I mean by that is, a person with one perfect lung (that has had time to adapt to having only one lung) can perform at a level that is very close to his previous overall time in a marathon, but, a person with only one lung running a 5K may see a decrease in their ability to go as fast as they used to with two lungs.
It's very simple. Long distance endurance events are NOT limited by lung function in a normal, healthy person.
Despite what it FEELS like, (in a normal, healthy individual at sea level), when your chest is heaving and your "lungs" are burning, it's not a maxing out of your lung capacity that is producing this feeling. This lung burning feeling is due to reaching and/or exceeding the rate of oxygen delivery/carbon dioxide removal that your cardiac output is able to provide. It's a cardiac output limitation, NOT a lung capacity limitation, that creates that lung burning feeling.
Altitude "breathlessness" is similar. When you go to altitude, it is NOT lung function that limits your ability to exercise. In fact, you can drive your carbon dioxide levels to quite low levels at altitude by hyperventilating, this shows your lungs are moving air quite well. The problem at altitude is trying to capture enough Oxygen from the rarified air. The partial pressure exerted by oxygen at altitude is simply lower than at sea level. As you exercise, your cardiac output goes up to deliver more oxygen to your muscles, but, less oxygen is being loaded onto the red cells in your lungs (because there isn't a sufficient amount of oxygen at altitude, not because your lungs cannot move enough volume of air in and out), so a higher cardiac output is required in order to deliver the same amount of oxygen to the tissues. It's still a cardiac output limitation, it's just complicated by a dearth of oxygen in the atmosphere.
Look at it like this: the red cells are like boxcars, carrying loads of carbon dioxide to the lungs and picking up loads of oxygen. (Let's ignore the fact that carbon dioxide unloads more easily than oxygen, and just stick to oxygen loading.) These box cars never stop at the loading station, but, are constantly in motion. The oxygen molecules are pushed into the boxcars because of the forces due to the gradient caused when there are more oxygen molecules outside the boxcar than in the boxcar. At altitude, there just isn't enough pressure pushing the oxygen molecules towards the boxcars, so, the boxcars exit the lungs with less than a full load. The body's response is to run the boxcars through the lungs faster...ie., increase cardiac output. So, it's still cardiac output limitation to exercise, not lung function. Certainly, oxygen availability is a limiting factor whan a full load of oxygen isn't available, but if you could just raise your cardiac output more, you could exercise harder at altitude. Either way: more cardiac output, or higher oxygen pressure, it still isn't lung capacity that is the limiting factor.
In a normal, healthy athlete, with a normal healthy respiratory sytem, the limiting factor at how much oxygen can be transported in the blood per minute is cardiac output, not lung capacity. (Assuming normal Hb, no cyanide poisoning, no carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.)
Don't mix lung disease "treatments" with exercise performance enhancements. If you really want to work on your accessory respiratory muscles, do like JoeM says and breathe through a straw...just don't suck in too hard, or you may find yourself coughing up some frothy bubbles (which are often blood-tinged) when you put yourself into pulmonary edema....
Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)
Emphysema is a disease of lung parenchyma elasticity, causing the lung tissue to become distended and OVERinflated. The problem is due to an inability to EXHALE as much as gas as a normal, more elastic lung. Consequently, carbon dioxide levels in the blood increase, oxygen levels in the blood decrease. Air trapping is THE big problem with emphyematous lungs. The first way the body tries to compensate is usually what is referred to as "pursed lip" breathing. This is simply making your lips pucker, like you were going to whistle, and blowing out through pursed lips. This technique "props open" the airways somewhat, providing a kind of gas stent effect, that allows more air to be exhaled before the inevitable gas trapping effect shuts off the remaining gas in the alveoli. Blowing on a harmonica simply mimics the normal pursed lip breathing.
Look, "lung capacity expanders" or whatever they call themselves, are basically worthless. A strong person can even put themselves into pulmonary edema by sucking in too hard on them. Not a good thing. A normal person has about twice the amount of lung tissue required to meet all the gas exchange requirements of participating in athletic events...actually, an Ironman distance event is less limited by lung capacity than running a 5K as fast as you can. What I mean by that is, a person with one perfect lung (that has had time to adapt to having only one lung) can perform at a level that is very close to his previous overall time in a marathon, but, a person with only one lung running a 5K may see a decrease in their ability to go as fast as they used to with two lungs.
It's very simple. Long distance endurance events are NOT limited by lung function in a normal, healthy person.
Despite what it FEELS like, (in a normal, healthy individual at sea level), when your chest is heaving and your "lungs" are burning, it's not a maxing out of your lung capacity that is producing this feeling. This lung burning feeling is due to reaching and/or exceeding the rate of oxygen delivery/carbon dioxide removal that your cardiac output is able to provide. It's a cardiac output limitation, NOT a lung capacity limitation, that creates that lung burning feeling.
Altitude "breathlessness" is similar. When you go to altitude, it is NOT lung function that limits your ability to exercise. In fact, you can drive your carbon dioxide levels to quite low levels at altitude by hyperventilating, this shows your lungs are moving air quite well. The problem at altitude is trying to capture enough Oxygen from the rarified air. The partial pressure exerted by oxygen at altitude is simply lower than at sea level. As you exercise, your cardiac output goes up to deliver more oxygen to your muscles, but, less oxygen is being loaded onto the red cells in your lungs (because there isn't a sufficient amount of oxygen at altitude, not because your lungs cannot move enough volume of air in and out), so a higher cardiac output is required in order to deliver the same amount of oxygen to the tissues. It's still a cardiac output limitation, it's just complicated by a dearth of oxygen in the atmosphere.
Look at it like this: the red cells are like boxcars, carrying loads of carbon dioxide to the lungs and picking up loads of oxygen. (Let's ignore the fact that carbon dioxide unloads more easily than oxygen, and just stick to oxygen loading.) These box cars never stop at the loading station, but, are constantly in motion. The oxygen molecules are pushed into the boxcars because of the forces due to the gradient caused when there are more oxygen molecules outside the boxcar than in the boxcar. At altitude, there just isn't enough pressure pushing the oxygen molecules towards the boxcars, so, the boxcars exit the lungs with less than a full load. The body's response is to run the boxcars through the lungs faster...ie., increase cardiac output. So, it's still cardiac output limitation to exercise, not lung function. Certainly, oxygen availability is a limiting factor whan a full load of oxygen isn't available, but if you could just raise your cardiac output more, you could exercise harder at altitude. Either way: more cardiac output, or higher oxygen pressure, it still isn't lung capacity that is the limiting factor.
In a normal, healthy athlete, with a normal healthy respiratory sytem, the limiting factor at how much oxygen can be transported in the blood per minute is cardiac output, not lung capacity. (Assuming normal Hb, no cyanide poisoning, no carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.)
Don't mix lung disease "treatments" with exercise performance enhancements. If you really want to work on your accessory respiratory muscles, do like JoeM says and breathe through a straw...just don't suck in too hard, or you may find yourself coughing up some frothy bubbles (which are often blood-tinged) when you put yourself into pulmonary edema....
Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)