OptiMuscle - Improving respiration by optimising muscle function - v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
OptiMuscle - Improving outcomes in dysfunctional breathing through the optimization of muscle function
IRAS ID
301500
Contact name
SJ Preece
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Salford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Dysfunctional breathing is a term used to describe a range of conditions characterised by an impairment in the muscular control of breathing. This can result in breathlessness, hyperventilation and in some cases dizziness. Current clinical assessment techniques and treatments for dysfunctional breathing are low-tech, with clinical management focused on the use of simple breathing exercises. Whilst these exercises do have some effect, we propose that patients would get more benefit from a system which uses biofeedback on muscle patterns to guide breathing re-education
This project will deliver a completely new digital health system for the clinical management of dysfunctional breathing. The system will use both visual and auditory biofeedback to communicate abnormal muscle function, guiding patients through a process in which they gradually learn the correct muscular control of breathing. To realise this personalised system, we will develop software which can create an individual avatar of the patient and use this to visualise the actions of the breathing muscle in real-time. To avoid the need to directly measure muscles in a clinical setting, we will develop algorithms which can predict muscle activations from an input of simple sensor data which can be collected in a clinical setting, e.g. inexpensive 3D camera.
Our multimodal biofeedback system will be integrated into a behaviour change intervention, providing patients with the capability, opportunity and motivation to change their muscle-related breathing behaviours. We will develop our new intervention by working closely with patients to understand their views on how the final system should operate. Once created, we will carry out a small study on people with dysfunctional breathing to understand the future potential.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EM/0221
Date of REC Opinion
5 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion