Long Exhalations as Complementary Treatment for Chronic Pain: A Pilot Study

Background: Chronic pain (CP) is one of the biggest burdens for health systems across the globe. It frequently presents in conjunction with comorbidities and considerable challenges for the maintenance of homeostasis and well-being. The lack of long-term effective treatments requires further attention and innovative approaches from the health care community. The present observational study aims to prove the feasibility of a breathing protocol focused on long exhalations (LEx) as a complementary treatment for CP populations. Methods: Eighteen CP patients (nine men and nine women) were selected for this observational pilot study. The inclusion criteria were having pain for more than 3 months, not having any previous experience with breathing exercises and not having a clinical diagnosis for the condition suffered. In addition to the usual physiotherapy care, the participants were trained in breathing techniques and the effects of LEx. Before each appointment, the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) and exhalatory times were registered. The data analysis consisted of a repeated measures ANOVA and a Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results: A total of 18 participants completed the breath intervention and the assessments. All participants improved their exhalation times by 4.78 s (SD = 3.19) or 64% (F = 45.62, p < 0.001) and their pain scores: NPRS by 2.55 units (SD = 2.2) or 47% (F = 34.19, p < 0.001); and PCS by 11.34 units (SD = 16.05) or 33% (F = 24.05, p < 0.001). There was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.49, p = 0.05) between exhalation times and NPRS. Conclusions: Breathing techniques focused on LEx in combination with the usual physiotherapy care are a feasible pain management protocol to reduce subjective pain perception and pain catastrophizing scores. Long-term studies with bigger samples might benefit from the inclusion of accurate and reproducible measures for exhalation times.