Access to all arias benefits patients
LONG Covid patients are following in the footsteps of Pavarotti to improve their breathing.
A project launched by the English National Opera (ENO) is tackling symptoms of breathlessness using techniques inspired by the training of opera stars.
During a six-week pilot, 90 per cent of patients who tried it reported an improvement in their condition and the same proportion felt their anxiety levels had dropped.
Symptoms
The ENO teamed up with respiratory experts at Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust to develop the programme last year, as doctors were seeing more patients suffering long-term symptoms after infection.
Dr Sarah Elkin, respiratory consultant, said some were still suffering from breathlessness despite their physical condition improving and chest X-rays looking fine.
She said: “Sometimes it was because they just hadn’t been breathing well. We call it Covid breathing pattern – they sit very rigid and they don’t really use the whole of their thorax to breathe.
“A lot of it is out of a habit that they formed when they were in hospital. They had lost their automatic normal breathing that we all do and this shallow pattern had taken over.”
The programme is targeted at those whose breathing problems have not improved at least eight weeks after their illness.
Each week groups of up to 20 patients spend an hour on a video call, where the ENO’s singing specialists teach exercises to “retrain” their breathing using lullabies.
Jenny Mollica, director of ENO Baylis, said: “A lot of what we’re doing is mirroring some of the techniques that you might take an opera singer through in their training.
“We’ll do a range of things from exercises around posture, combating vocal fatigue, exercises that support developing healthy breathing habits and good stamina.”
People who have no experience or particular interest in joining a singing group can still benefit, the experts said.