Education for Patients > Exercise is Medicine™ > Dr. Jonathan Parsons
What if there was one prescription that could prevent and treat dozens of diseases?
Jonathan Parsons, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Associate Director, OSU Asthma Center
Exercise has been shown to be an important and effective component of the management of many chronic diseases including asthma. Routine physical exercise may reduce the likelihood of asthma exacerbations and the need for daily asthma controller medications. However, exercise is also one of the most common triggers of asthma attacks in people who have chronic asthma. Therefore, many asthmatics unnecessarily avoid physical exercise, because they fear asthma symptoms such as shortness of breath and wheezing will be provoked by such activity. They aren’t aware that with proper treatment these symptoms can be controlled and asthmatics can exercise like anyone else. This is important, as a lack of physical exercise often leads to physical deconditioning and obesity which may make asthma worse.
The truth about exercise and asthma is quite simple. Most exercise-induced asthma attacks can be prevented with the simple use of short-acting bronchodilators 15-20 minutes prior to exercise. This strategy used in conjunction with adequate warm-up is successful in preventing asthma attacks during exercise in 80% of cases. Hence, the vast majority of asthmatics can and should be exercising without significant limitation utilizing this strategy. Exercise-induced asthma symptoms can be a marker of poor asthma control and should not be accepted as ‘part of the deal’ of having asthma. If symptoms persist during exercise despite warm-up and use of bronchodilators prior to exercise, it is important to look for alternative explanations of persistent symptoms.
Asthma can be particularly burdensome for very active individuals and recreational or competitive athletes. These people often exercise every day or even multiple times per day and limitation of athletic performance by asthma symptoms many times is not acceptable to themselves, teammates, or coaches. As part of the medical team that cares for competitive athletes at The Ohio State University, I see many accomplished athletes with exercise-induced asthma. Exercise-induced asthma is so common that we have established a specialized Asthma Center at OSU Medical Center dedicated specifically to the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in active individuals and athletes.
The good news is that with appropriate diagnosis and management, the vast majority of patients with asthma, even athletes at the highest levels, can exercise to their fullest potential symptom-free.
