Dysfunctional Breathing

Online Course

Enhance your clinical outcomes with an understanding of how to recognise and treat breathing pattern disorders

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3-4 hours

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Introduction

Dysfunctional breathing is defined as chronic or recurrent changes in breathing patterns that cause significant respiratory and non-respiratory complaints. Around 10 percent of people are diagnosed with hyperventilation syndrome. However, many more individuals have subtle, but clinically significant breathing pattern disorders (BPD). Symptoms of BPDs are varied and can mimic serious illnesses, including cardiovascular disease. They have also been linked to musculoskeletal complaints, including back pain and pelvic issues, as well as anxiety. Having an understanding of BPDs is, therefore, essential for physiotherapists to ensure that we can effectively manage this condition.

Aims

This course aims to provide you with an understanding of the assessment and treatment of breathing pattern disorders, so that you can recognise and effectively manage clients who present with this condition.

Outline

This course is made up of videos, reading, discussions and a final quiz. The course content is split into the following sections:

Section One: Defining Dysfunctional Breathing
Section Two: Assessing for Dysfunctional Breathing
Section Three: Treating Dysfunctional Breathing

Target audience

This course is aimed at Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy professionals, clinicians and students.

Practicalities

This course is divided into 4 sections and it is suggested (but not required) that each section be completed over the duration of approximately a week. Please note that no deadlines are applied and this course can be started and completed according to your own schedule. We expect the required elements of each section/week to take around 3-4 hours depending on your schedule and learning style. Additionally there are many optional resources provided and if you choose to review these the course could take longer to complete.
It’s not going to be easy, we’ll expect you to work hard for your completion certificate and Plus points! You won’t be sitting back and watching webinars, we’ll expect you to reading tasks, complete quizzes, perform literature searches and other learning activities. You’ll need to reflect on your own experiences and contribute them within the discussion forum, this is where we can learn from each other’s experiences and knowledge from all around the world! At the end of the course, when you have completed all of the required elements, you will be able to download a certificate of completion and 2.6 Plus points will be added to your personalised learning dashboard.

Requirements to complete this course

In order to complete this course and receive a course completion certificate you will need to:

abide by the Plus Community Culture
log as completed all the required learning activities
actively participate in the course forum discussions
pass a final quiz with a score of 80% or more
complete a course evaluation form

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course you will be able to:

list at least ten symptoms that can be associated with breathing pattern disorders
design an appropriate intervention for patients who present with breathing pattern disorders
select an appropriate set of tests and outcome measures to use in the assessment of breathing pattern disorders
explain the aetiology of breathing pattern disorders
compare and contrast normal and abnormal breathing patterns

Featured reviews

This course is amazing! Everyone must do it, even if you don’t treat patients with BDP or HVS!

Lipi Verma

Physiotherapist

India

Very informative, well-structured course! Was able to put the theory into practice in my Post-COVID Clinic immediately.

Arrah Valenzona

Physiotherapist

Ireland

Excellent and simple to evaluate and manage. This should be a vital part of any evaluation and management of all patients by physiotherapists.

Wilma Erasmus

Physical Therapist

South Africa

It is a long-overdue mind shift to target breathing in order to relieve trigger points.

Susan Grobler

Physiotherapist

South Africa

The course was a great source of learning and understanding of dysfunctional breathing and how physiotherapists can help their patients.

Glenda Gutierrez Neich

Physiotherapist

Australia

This course was a great way to see how the body and its functions (as well as dysfunctions) marry into each other in a holistic way. This being done with simple scientific reasoning and explanations.

Lauren Heydenrych

Physiotherapist

South Africa

It is a nice course to look at breathing holistically. We tend to treat the chest as a separate entity, when in fact we should be assessing the muscles, and surrounding structures and treat accordingly with more modalities than just chest physio or breathing techniques.

Yulandie Ludick

Physiotherapist

South Africa

This course is a must for physiotherapists that deals with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Cristopher Alejandro

Physiotherapist

Ireland

A comprehensive summary of a topic which was novel to me. The evidence base provided was very good and lots of audiovisual resources were a big help in understanding the practical techniques discussed

Ian Kenny

Profession not set

Ireland

I think this is an area left out all to often in the PT practice. It is logical to the patients and can help them alleviate many of their acute and chronic symptoms.

Steve Finn

Physiotherapist

United States

This course made me realise how important correct breathing patterns are in treating a patient holistically. It was very informative, and I never lost interest. The information makes so much sense, and I will definitely use the content in practice!