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Respiratory Physiotherapy in Holborn, Central London
Respiratory physiotherapy in Holborn for breathlessness, long term chest conditions and breathing pattern problems, with an advanced physiotherapist.
Respiratory physiotherapy is physiotherapy for breathing: clearing the chest, retraining a breathing pattern that has gone wrong, and building activity back up at a pace your lungs can manage. Sessions at our Holborn clinic are with an HCPC registered advanced physiotherapist.
What is respiratory physiotherapy?
Respiratory physiotherapy is a branch of physiotherapy focused on the lungs, the chest wall and the muscles used to breathe. A physiotherapist assesses how you are breathing, teaches techniques to clear mucus from the airways where that is a problem, retrains dysfunctional breathing patterns, and sets a graded exercise plan so that everyday activity becomes less breathless. It is commonly used with long term lung conditions, after a chest infection, with breathing pattern disorders, and during recovery from long Covid.
What Respiratory Physiotherapy Helps With
Breathlessness on everyday activity
Stairs, walking uphill and carrying shopping. Techniques for pacing and recovering your breath, plus a graded plan to widen what you can do.
A cough or chest that will not clear
Airway clearance techniques you can carry out yourself at home, taught and practised in the session rather than handed over as a leaflet.
Breathing pattern disorders
Upper chest breathing, frequent sighing, air hunger and dizziness. Retraining the pattern towards a slower, lower, nasal breath.
Anxiety linked breathlessness
Where breathing and anxiety feed each other, retraining gives you something concrete to do. It works well alongside talking therapy or breathwork.
Recovery after illness or surgery
Rebuilding stamina after a chest infection, hospital stay or operation, with the workload matched to what you can currently tolerate.
Posture and the mechanics of the chest
A stiff upper back and tight neck and shoulder muscles make breathing harder work. Hands on treatment addresses the mechanical layer directly.
How a Session Works
1
Assessment30 min
Your history, medical diagnoses and medication, what makes you breathless, and observation of how you are actually breathing at rest and on movement.
2
Explanation10 min
What your physiotherapist has found and what is realistically likely to change, said plainly.
3
Technique work20-30 min
Breathing control, the active cycle of breathing technique or airway clearance work, and pacing strategies, practised until you can do them without prompting.
4
Hands on treatment where useful15 min
Work on the ribcage, upper back and accessory breathing muscles when stiffness or tension is part of the problem.
5
Home programme and review10 min
A short daily routine and a graded activity plan, reviewed and progressed at the next appointment.
Your Practitioner
Melissa Tran
Advanced physiotherapist, HCPC registered and a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, with a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy from Brunel University. Close to ten years in physiotherapy on top of twenty years in sports and remedial massage, with nearly two decades as a strength and conditioning coach shaping the rehabilitation side of her work. She offers respiratory physiotherapy alongside musculoskeletal treatment.
View full profileBreathing Pattern Retraining
A dysfunctional breathing pattern is common and often missed. It typically looks like breathing high in the chest, through the mouth, faster than needed, with frequent sighs or yawns. People describe it as not being able to get a satisfying breath in, and it can come with dizziness, tingling in the hands, chest tightness and fatigue. Tests of the lungs themselves often come back normal.
Retraining means relearning a slower, quieter, nasal breath that uses the diaphragm rather than the neck and shoulders. It is taught in the session, practised with feedback and then repeated in short bursts at home. Most people need several weeks of practice before the new pattern holds under stress, which is the point at which it matters most.
Airway Clearance
Where mucus is the problem, the aim is to move it to a point where it can be cleared with far less coughing. Techniques taught here include breathing control, thoracic expansion exercises, the forced expiration technique known as huffing, and positioning. Together these make up the active cycle of breathing technique, which is a mainstay of respiratory physiotherapy in the NHS.
The value of learning these properly is independence. Once you can carry out a clearance routine yourself, you can use it daily and at the first sign of a chest infection rather than waiting for an appointment.
Paced Exercise and Building Stamina
Breathlessness makes people avoid activity, activity tolerance drops, and the same task then causes more breathlessness. Graded exercise interrupts that cycle. Your starting point is set from what you can currently manage rather than from a standard programme, and progress in small, sustainable steps.
Where fatigue after exertion is a feature, as it can be in long Covid, pacing takes priority over progression and the plan is deliberately conservative. Your physiotherapist will explain how to recognise you have gone too far and how to adjust.
What Respiratory Physiotherapy Does Not Replace
This is supportive care that works with your medical treatment, not instead of it. Keep taking prescribed inhalers and medication, and keep your GP, respiratory consultant or asthma nurse involved.
Seek urgent medical help rather than booking an appointment if you have sudden severe breathlessness, chest pain, blue lips, are coughing up blood, or your usual reliever medication is not working. Our physiotherapist will also tell you if what you describe needs a medical assessment before physiotherapy is appropriate.
Respiratory Physiotherapy, Physiotherapy or Breathwork?
- Choose respiratory physiotherapy if breathing itself is the problem: breathlessness, a chest that will not clear, or a breathing pattern that has gone wrong.
- Choose general physiotherapy for musculoskeletal injuries, joint and muscle pain, and rehabilitation after injury or surgery.
- Choose breathwork if you are well and want breathing practices for stress and relaxation rather than clinical assessment.
- Many people combine respiratory physiotherapy with hands on treatment for the upper back and ribs in the same appointment.
Who It Is For
- Asthma, as support alongside your medical management
- COPD and other long term lung conditions
- Bronchiectasis and other conditions where mucus builds up
- Recovery after a chest infection or pneumonia
- Long Covid, particularly breathlessness and fatigue
- Breathing pattern disorders and hyperventilation
- Deconditioning and breathlessness after surgery or a hospital stay
- Anyone who becomes breathless sooner than they think they should
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Respiratory Physiotherapy FAQs
What Our Clients Say
"Great location in the heart of the city! I would say it's a quiet oasis in a very busy area, a place to relax after a hard day at work."
Robert D.
Book Respiratory Physiotherapy in Holborn
Sessions are held at 26 Red Lion Square, a few minutes from Holborn station. Get in touch to arrange a time.
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