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Objective: To determine the effect of the Breathe Right (BR) external nasal dilator strip on treadmill exercise performed while wearing an upper maxillary mouthguard.
Design and Setting: Two-way repeated-measures design with subjects acting as their own controls. Subjects performed 2 randomly assigned bouts of incremental treadmill exercise (with and without the BR strip) while wearing upper maxillary mouthguards.
Subjects: Nineteen young, healthy, recreationally active men.
Measurements: We assessed subjective nasal patency levels at rest. We also recorded heart rate, dyspnea rating, and treadmill speed at 2 submaximal exercise levels and at volitional fatigue.
Results: Subjective nasal patency was significantly increased with the strip. Repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed a significant main effect of the BR strip on dyspnea ratings during exercise, but there was no effect of the strip on test duration, heart rate, or running speed during the tests.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the BR nasal dilator strip does not affect treadmill exercise performance in subjects wearing mouthguards.
Key Words: dyspnea, nasal resistance, nasal airflow, exercise
External nasal dilator strips are used as ergogenic aids in many different sports. High visibility and eloquent endorsements by prominent professional athletes have contributed to the increased use of these devices by both elite and recreational competitors.
The Breathe Right (BR) external nasal dilator strip (CNS, Inc, Chanhassen, MN) comprises 2 hypoallergenic adhesive-- truss members adapted to engage the outer wall tissue of the nasal passages. An intermediate segment composed of a resilient material spans the nasal bridge and couples the truss members. The BR strip is designed to slightly dilate the nares at the anterior aspect of the nasal valve. The nasal valve contributes a significant amount of resistance in the upper respiratory tract1,2; thus, a small increase in nasal valve diameter may result in a large decrease in nasal resistance. When properly applied, the BR strip provides approximately 25 g of pulling force to open the nasal passages.3 This results in increases of 20% to 25% in resting nasal valve cross-sectional area.4-7 Decreases of 25% to 30% have been reported in resting nasal airway resistance after application of the strip.3,6 The BR strip was originally designed to treat patients with snoring problems and has been effective in reducing snoring loudness and improving sleep...