Difficulty exercising

Posted , 4 users are following.

Ever since my spontaneous pneumothorax I have had a lot of trouble with exercising. All the doctors have given me a clean bill of health and yet I can't run a 1/4 mile without being completely out of breath. Has anyone else experienced this? I need help because I am trying to be a peace officer and it is what I have been working toward for years. I have to be able to run for this job and right now I can't. And help or advise would be appreciated.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    Just a little more info, I am a 21 year old female and this happened a little over a year ago. I have had numerous tests done and they can't find any additional problems, no asthma or anything.
  • Posted

    This has happened to me a few times and I have had quite a few operations. First thing don't smoke!! Depending on how recent it was you should be able to get back to full fitness. I train regularly and seem to be OK...
  • Posted

    Your young, that is great, you will recover, it just takes time. Meanwhile, run as much as you can then walk to catch your breath then run again. This will at least keep your lungs working and keep you going. Also yoga is great for deep breathing exercises to expand your lungs. You can also do weights in the gym to stay in shape and strong (I would think this to be very important for a peace officer). If you do this slowly and controlled you shouldn't have any breathlessness. Good Luck!!
  • Posted

    Hey there,

    I just found your post here and your problem seems familiar to me. I had a spontaneous Pneumothorax in 2009 (I was 17 years old back then) and I have problems ever since. I have been to various doctors and had a lot of check-ups but nothing really helped. Lately I found one very good physio-therapist who could actually make life a bit easier for me again. What is mostly helping me are the daily exercises I have to do. I don't know if you have gotten one of these little "breath-trainers" in the hospital or not but this thing is actually quite helpful. It trains your lungs and helps to improve the volume of your lungs. Since I am training with this thing daily I have lesser problems while jogging / running or sports in general. Anyways I still have to focus on the speed and breathing in order to be able to run for a longer distance, but it gets better in time. Maybe you could try to get one of these trainers too and hopefully it will help you as well. (I'm from Germany and I had my surgery here as well but the procedure in the UK should be the same I suppose)

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