My Child Struggles with Breathing While Playing Sports: Is It Asthma?

You love that your child is actively involved in sports, but you’re concerned about their breathing. When not in motion, they seem to breathe just fine, but once they take to the court or field and start running around, they gasp for air.

If you're thinking about asthma, you could be on the right track. In the United States, there are nearly 28 million people with asthma, including five million kids. And of the many things that can trigger an asthma attack, exercise ranks very high on the list.

Since asthma is a leading chronic disease among kids, the Neighborhood Pediatrics team, including board-certified pediatricians Dr. Sharon Lucas and Dr. Rachel McConnell, is well-versed in asthma, including exercise-induced asthma.

Asthma basics

Let’s first step back and take a broader look at asthma, a chronic condition that involves the airways in your lungs. More specifically, when you have asthma, certain conditions or irritants can cause these airways to become inflamed and narrowed, making breathing more difficult.

When this occurs, it’s called an asthma attack, and these attacks occur in nearly half of people with asthma and are responsible for about 1.6 million visits to the ER each year in the US.

Asthma often strikes in childhood and occurs more in boys than girls — 7% of boys versus 5.4% of girls. 

Exercise and asthma

While there are many different triggers for asthma, exercise is one of the more common, which is why there’s a name devoted to the condition — exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB).

Interestingly, the condition isn't associated with asthma — 90% of people with asthma have EIB, but not everyone with EIB has asthma. The crossover is significant, and the two are often closely linked.

No matter the connection, EIB occurs because, when someone is active, they’re breathing more deeply, and the air is drier and colder, which can irritate airways. 

Aside from wheezing and difficulty breathing, EIB and exercise-induced asthma can also lead to:

• Tightness in the chest
• Upset stomach
• Cough
• Sore throat

Other environmental conditions exacerbate EIB, such as cold weather, pollution, and spring hay fever.  At the same time, if someone is out of shape and pushing hard, they are more vulnerable to EIB.

Keeping your child active

To figure out what’s behind your child’s struggle to breathe when they’re active, we want you to bring them in for a thorough evaluation. If EIB and/or asthma are responsible, we can create a management plan that keeps your child active. 

From on-the-spot albuterol inhalers to long-term asthma medications, we can ensure your child has what they need to continue to play sports.

For expert diagnosis and care of asthma in kids, contact us at our Shenandoah, Texas, office at 832-843-2049 today. You can also use the online booking feature to schedule an appointment.