Nurses to be trained to teach Buteyko Breathing Technique to asthmatics

Included in the British Guidelines on the Management of Asthma this year, the Buteyko Breathing Technique – or Buteyko – is recognised as an effective treatment for asthma, but this is the first time it has been taught in a university setting.

Buteyko is a system of breathing exercises and education based on clinical evidence that asthmatics tend to ‘over-breathe’. It aims to teach people how to breathe less by improving control over their respiratory muscles, increasing tolerance of the feeling of breathlessness, and relaxation.

The new six-day, masters-level course is designed to provide nurses and other health care professionals with the knowledge and experience to teach Buteyko.

Gillian Austin, a clinical specialist physiotherapist at the Lister Hospital in Hertfordshire, has been teaching the technique for more than four years.

‘It is my vision for Buteyko classes to be taught in every hospital, school and health club, and in order to meet this aim many more Buteyko teachers will need to be trained,’ she said.

Anyone interested in attending the six-day course – which will run in June - should contact course leader Julie Sellars or module leader Nicky Knowles

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