Capnotrainer Demonstration with Dr. Ryan DeBell

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Dr. Ryan DeBell of themovementfix.com. We talk all the time via social media, but this was the first time meeting in person.

I'll be posting some videos on the omptchannel of new uses of CupEDGE and EDGE Mobility Ball we shot, but I thought I would give you guys a demostration of the Capnotrainer in action. Ryan complained to me that he was often fatigued in the middle of the day, similar to my complaints that were solved by breathing faster and more shallow. He said the reason was that he got too much sleep at night. That got a good laugh and my response, "Clinicians don't give histories any better than patients do!"

We measured him in supine, in lumbar flexion (previous history of chronic LBP), with different rates and with chest breathing. I'm still in the dabbling stage at this point, but it's always interesting getting objective measures.

Breathing Education Mini Case - hot off the press

patient with chronic upper quarter pain, headaches and fatigue
in the past 4 visits, has been responding to MDT - centralized right shoulder pain and improved headaches and neck pain
recently started working out and also having difficulty with one of her daughters, who has been having mood swings
this caused flareup of her headaches and neck pain
I had left my Capnotrainer at home, so instead we focused on her breathing in supine at first

she was asked to concentrate on how she felt, pain at rest in the cervical spine, increases with movement
she she was prompted to try different breathing rates, faster and more shallow with less transition between exhale and inhale

slower breathing rates had no effect on her pain
faster and more shallow rates abolished her neck pain and it was nearly gone with movement
returning to her normal breathing rates within 1.5 minutes reproduced her neck pain
we tried this 2 more times in this position, each time her normal breathing rate reproducing her pain and faster, more shallow breaths abolishing it and her headache

she had severe difficulty breathing at this rate in sitting, using more accessory muscles of respiration

her homework was to really pay attention to the rate and pattern that abolishes her pain in supine, to practice for 15-20 minutes, 1-2 times daily
upon flareup, she is to try to breathe in this pattern in functional positions
if I had the Capnotrainer, I would have been able to measure the PECO2 rates objectively and give her feedback, but she was still please with the outcome of the session