Causes (2)
- Dust mite allergy
- Pet allergy
Lifestyle and home remedies (1)
- Asthma in children: Creating an asthma action plan
Prevention (2)
- Asthma: Limit asthma attacks caused by colds or flu
- Children and exercise-induced asthma: Playing sports safely
Tests and diagnosis (2)
- Spirometry
- Peak flow meter
Treatments and drugs (3)
- Asthma in children under 5
- Treating asthma in children ages 5 to 11
- Treating asthma in children ages 12 and older
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Children and exercise-induced asthma: Playing sports safely
Children with asthma can benefit from participation in sports. To ensure your child's safety, control the condition, have an asthma action plan and communicate with your child's caregivers.
By Mayo Clinic staffIf your child has exercise-induced asthma, preventing flare-ups is a big concern. As with asthma triggered by other things, exercise-induced asthma occurs when the main air passages of the lungs, the bronchial tubes, become inflamed. The muscles of the bronchial walls tighten, and cells in the lungs produce extra mucus. This can cause signs and symptoms that range from minor wheezing to severe trouble breathing. But your child doesn't have to let asthma limit physical activity. In fact, regular exercise strengthens the lungs, making breathing easier for kids with exercise-induced asthma. Taking a few steps to ease symptoms can help your child avoid asthma flare-ups — and get off the sidelines and into the game.
Control asthma first
Before your child participates in sports, be sure that his or her asthma is under control. Controlled asthma means that regular symptoms and flare-ups are rare. If your child is on medication but continues to have symptoms or regular flare-ups, check with your child's doctor for possible changes to medications or dosages. Work with your doctor to create a detailed asthma action plan.
Treatment to control asthma varies from person to person and is based on symptoms and triggers. Along with avoiding triggers, a typical treatment plan involves a combination of long-acting medications to control the asthma over time and short-acting inhalers for quick relief of symptoms. Many children benefit from using a short-acting bronchodilator such as albuterol about 15 minutes before exercise.
Use an asthma action plan to stay on track
Work with your child's doctor to create an asthma action plan, a step-by-step guide for preventing, recognizing and treating an asthma attack. Every child with asthma should have an asthma action plan. Typical asthma action plans include a list of medications and dosages, symptoms and average peak flow readings, signs of an attack, when to seek emergency care, and contact numbers.
Choose activities wisely
Certain physical activities are more likely to cause asthma attacks, particularly those that require sustained effort with few breaks, such as:
- Basketball
- Cross-country skiing
- Cycling
- Ice hockey
- Long-distance running
- Rugby
- Soccer
If your child is especially sensitive to exercise as a trigger or has exercise-induced asthma, you may want to consider activities that are less likely to trigger asthma, such as:
- Baseball
- Golf
- Sprinting
- Swimming
- Weightlifting
While sprinting and swimming are strenuous activities, they're less likely to cause symptoms than are some other sports. Sprinting is high intensity, but doesn't require endurance. Swimming can be high intensity and high endurance, but the warm, humid environment associated with indoor pools usually protects those with asthma from having attacks. Golf usually requires less intense exercise; however, the outdoor exposure may trigger asthma for kids who also have allergies.
Although some activities are more likely to cause symptoms, your child may be able to participate in any sport he or she chooses with the right medications and asthma control. With good asthma control, most children with asthma can exercise as hard as they want.
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