Making Exercise Safe

Body awareness is the key to making exercise safe and healthy. You might have heard the slogan "No pain, no gain"; you may even know coaches or athletes who promote this philosophy. But it’s important to realize that there are two types of pain: The type that brings gain is the muscle burn that you feel during a vigorous workout. The type that can actually set your health back is the pain that comes from your body trying to tell you that you’re doing too much. If you feel a shooting pain or tearing sensation in any muscle, for example, stop immediately; you may have torn a ligament. And if you’re suffering from a respiratory infection or from asthma, and you try to "push your body through the pain," you can end up making yourself sicker.

Olympic champion swimmer Nancy Hogshead has asthma. With Gerald S. Couzens, she wrote Asthma and Exercise, a book that recounts her own experience and gives advice to others with asthma. Hogshead cautions: "I stop swim workouts immediately whenever I feel the first twinge of pain in my shoulder or feel that I’ve reached a point where my asthma is coming on. In times of pain like this, it doesn’t help you become a better athlete if you continue to push your body through a workout. Whatever is bothering you will only get worse if you continue to exercise, and could set your training back for an indefinite period."

It always pays to be aware of your asthma status. If you feel your asthma is particularly aggravated by colds and flus, then ease up a bit on your exercise program if you have the sniffles, body aches, or feel particularly run-down. You might even consider eliminating a workout or two until you feel completely better. There is nothing wimpish about this. A world-class athlete pushes his or her body in one sense, but knows how to baby it as well.

Building good exercise habits
Exercise can be especially painful for children with asthma. Without necessarily knowing why, a child with asthma may avoid the activity that eventually results in a tight chest, a painful sensation in the lungs, or a shortness of breath, let alone a full-blown asthma attack.

You can solve this problem, although it may take patience and creativity. As always, start with your physician. Find out what he or she thinks your child can do. (If your physician advises against all forms of exercise, you might seriously consider whether you want to find another physician.)

Creating an exercise plan with your child
After consulting with your physician work with your child to create an exercise program that feels fun and safe. First review what your child can do to cope with any asthma attack that is triggered by exercise. Preventive medications, whether liquid, tablets, or an inhaler, as prescribed by your physician, may be very helpful. You need to be sure that you understand which medications are preventive and which relieve symptoms.

Second, talk to your child to find out how he or she feels about exercise. Find out whether he or she has been avoiding it, and if so, why. Then take some steps to make exercise feel safe and possible for your child. This might involve finding some forms of exercise that your child is interested in, perhaps beginning with a family outing or a special adventure for you and your child alone. Take your child swimming, go on a hike together, kick a soccer ball around, or shoot a few baskets - in short, find a way to get your child moving and active in a context where he or she can feel protected by you and safe from any possible embarrassment in front of friends.

Alternatively, your child may be chomping at the bit to exercise and/or to play with friends. It may be that your child will join in friends’ games and sports contests as soon as he or she trusts that a breathing exercise or an inhaler will prevent or counter an asthma attack.

As with diet, finding the exercise habits that work for your child may take a bit of detective work on both your parts. It may also be that a solution that works for a while eventually stops working. Perhaps your child’s friends love soccer for a while - and then switch to playing dolls or video games, so that getting your child to exercise becomes a more private activity, less of a social event.

Perhaps your child’s friends love baseball, but your child feels most comfortable with swimming. (The humid air at a swimming pool is especially soothing to people with asthma, although some react badly to either the chlorine in the water or the mold that tends to grow in damp places.) Stay in touch and find ways to talk with your child about what he or she feels. With patience and creativity, you can find ways of exercise that your child will enjoy - and that will keep him or her healthy.

This article is reprinted with permission from Taking Charge of Asthma: A Lifetime Strategy, by Betty B. Wray, M.D.