I remember some folks posted a few months back that whistling had helped their asthma.
My 84 year old mom has emphysema. Does anyone have experience with what effect whistling has for emphysema? Is it helpful? Is it contraindicated?
Thanks and best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry,
I have a student who is in his eighties who has been learning whistle with me for over a year. He has emphasema and his doctor told him whistle playing is good for him. Controled blowing out is good for him - one of his exercises is blowing out a candle!
I think it’s probably a terrific form of respiratory therapy!
I know that there is at least one physician here who can probably opine.
It does seem, though, that blowing into a whistle might provide what we first-year med students learned is called PEEP (positive end expiratory pressure), which does help people who suffer from emphysema keep their airways from collapsing. I remember my grandmother breathing out through pursed lips which was her automatic compensation to accomplish the same thing.
I was told that whistle playing was good for my respiratory health following my heart surgery.
Ron
I don’t actually have emphysema yet, but after a chest exray two years ago, my doctor informed me that my lungs were beginning to aerate (spelling?), which is the prequel to the disease. At times I have trouble with long phrases, breath-wise, but I have found that the more I play/practice, the better my lung capacity seems to be.
~Larry
Good luck to all with the respiratory therapy aspect…
However, it makes me think twice about (if not totally eliminates) the desire to buy a “used” whistle.
There are just too many excellent, affordable new ones out there.
Sorry, i do not like the concept of “used” whistle… It’s like used silverwear, or used clothes, or used shoes.
But there are also excellent and effective sterilizers that can eliminate these things that can do harm. Any non-wood instrument should be able to be cleaned and sterilized with a clorine bleach soak. There are also other solutions that could be used. A quick call to a pharmacy or your doctor should provide you with several.
Additionally, many nasties do not last long when exposed to the atmosphere and/or sunlight.
Gracious, Parcour, if it wasn’t for “used” clothes, along with my prolific yard sale wife, I’d only have about three t-shirts to my name… instead of the 50-plus I have! 
~Larry
A quick search on sterilize brought up these threads:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=12244&highlight=sterilize
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=1586&highlight=sterilize
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=11695&highlight=sterilize
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=12338&highlight=sterilize
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=758&highlight=sterilize
Hope this helps,
I know all this. I don’t set the standards for the world, I just (happily) post my opinions. 
Good luck to all!
Jerry,
Getting back to your question…A little lung visualization might help. A healthy lung looks a lot like a sponge - lots of surface area and it rebounds to its original shape when released. An emphysemic lung, however, looks more like a plastic bag - little surface area and if you squoosh it in your hand it doesn’t rebound. With a normal lung energy is expended while inhaling and exhalation is largely a passive process. A person with emphysema expends energy both on inhalation and exhalation because the lung has lost its rebound. In addition, the emphysemic needs to exhale against some pressure, thus the pursed lips that is a sign of emphysema.
Soooo… I AM NOT an expert, just an RN, but it seems like whistle playing would be just the thing for someone with emphysema. The breath control (diaphragm, chest throat and mouth muscles) we learn playing woodwinds would be a great exercize.
That’s my humble opinion.
Mike
Mike, as a person who may likely wind up with the disease, thank you for your explanation. IMHO, whistle playing sure beats the hell out of the normally prescrbed breathing therapy treatments!
~Larry
It seems like playing a whistle which has moderate back pressure would be ideal for someone with emphysema.
nothing better for her-encourage her. the PEEP effect mentioned above would be miminal with the whistle because there is not much resistance. however, taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly-nothing better.
meir
Thanks, Meir, for chiming in.
I’ll tweak a Sweetone for her with a little back pressure.
Thanks, everyone for your help with this.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerrry, good on you for doing that for you Mom, and best wishes for her regarding her health.
And thanks for opening a new area of discussion on the board.
~Larry
Wow! Now I’m inspired to see if my friend’s 96-year-old mom can be coaxed into taking up the whistle. She’s in great health (to see her you’d think she was in her 70s) and living in her own apartment in a Quaker retirement community.
She might not have the time to devote to practice, though. She keeps a very active social calendar. (We should all enjoy such gifts! 
)
M
Cured some warts I had.
Scientifically, of course, no one has ever studied the question so no one really knows. Logically, playing the whistle resembles “incentive spirometry” often prescribed post-operatively to help open up lung areas that are under ventilated during surgery. While I would be a little concerned about an emphysematous patient who insisted on playing the TUBA at neighborhood volume, I think the usual amatuer approach to whistling would certainly do no damage and may be mildly beneficial to pulmonary function.
An important test is whether whistling is beneficial to the enjoyment of life. It is not my goal to live for a hundred years eating only special K and drinking 8 glasses of water per day.
Shortstop, MD, PhD
ICU Director