Relaxation therapy in adult asthma. Is there new evidence for its effectiveness?
Relaxation training does not help adult asthma.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Heiman (2001) looked at nine studies of relaxation training for adults with asthma.
The team checked if yoga, autogenic training, or progressive relaxation helped breathing or reduced attacks.
What they found
Relaxation had almost no effect on lung function or symptom scores.
The authors call the method unproven as an add-on asthma treatment.
How this fits with other research
Webb et al. (1999) saw the same blank result for antipsychotics in adults with intellectual disability and problem behavior.
Austin et al. (2015) also flagged shaky methods in cognitive-training studies for kids with ID, mirroring the weak evidence here.
van Witteloostuijn et al. (2017) warn that publication bias can make an effect look real when it is not, just like the negligible asthma outcome.
Why it matters
If a family asks about yoga or breathing apps for asthma, you can share that solid trials show little gain. Stick to medically proven plans and use your session time for behavior skills that have stronger support, such as adherence routines or trigger avoidance.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies of relaxation training for adult asthma patients were reviewed for the period between 1980 and 2000. Six controlled and three uncontrolled studies were identified, employing a variety of methods, such as progressive relaxation, functional relaxation, autogenic training, or yoga. Most studies had low sample sizes and suffered from one or more methodological deficiencies, such as suboptimal data analysis, high dropout rates, problematic measurement procedures, or insufficient descriptions of methodology and results. Overall effects on parameters of lung function, symptoms, medication consumption, and health care use were generally negligible. Problems with the underlying rationale of relaxation therapy in asthma are discussed from a psychophysiological viewpoint. Examples are given of potential beneficial and detrimental effects of these techniques on lung function with respect to emotional processes, the musculoskeletal system, and ventilation as targets of a relaxation intervention. It remains to be demonstrated that relaxation training can significantly contribute to the standard treatment of asthma in adult patients.
Behavior modification, 2001 · doi:10.1177/0145445501254009