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Professor Konstantin Buteyko developed his breathing retraining method in the early 1950s. As a young doctor he used it to help his patients with many diseases, one of which was asthma. When it arrived in the West almost 40 years later, some doctors immediately spotted its potential and incorporated it into their asthma management.
In May 2008, the British Thoracic Society, made up of medical practitioners, nurses and scientists, involved in all aspects of respiratory disease, recognised the Buteyko Breathing Retraining Method in their British Guidelines for the Management of Asthma.
They reported that the Buteyko method has been clinically proven to be safe and effective for the relief of asthma symptoms and enables a reduction in the medication required to control the disease. This enables doctors and nurses to recommend Buteyko to their patients.
Aside from conventional medication, it was the only method thus endorsed.
The British Lung Foundation has also expressed an interest in the Buteyko method and I have been invited to speak to them again this year.
In October 2009, Coventry University is introducing a Buteyko course for healthcare professionals.
The Buteyko method is now being accepted for what it is, a safe and effective way of relieving breathing difficulties and reducing the need for medication.
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