groyster1
1925 posts
Jun 27, 2012
5:59 PM
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I was wondering if anybody in the forum is involved in this..being a former respiratory therapist and also having a long time friend with severe COPD,I am interested in this therapy
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KeithE
203 posts
Jun 27, 2012
6:31 PM
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Have you tried contacting David Barrett?
http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/pulm.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-Harmonica-Fun-Health/dp/0786607645
It looks like the latter was coauthored with "Dennis Bucko, M.D. is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, practicing in La Jolla, CA since 1981. He is Clinical Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at University of California, San Diego."
Last Edited by on Jun 27, 2012 6:43 PM
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jbone
983 posts
Jun 27, 2012
7:25 PM
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i am not involved but i know this: 35 years of smoking has not left any obvious damage to my lungs. i attribute this to play harp for most of that time.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7La7yYYeE
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nacoran
5894 posts
Jun 27, 2012
7:58 PM
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I only know what I've read online. I've got asthma, and when I picked up harp a few years back I'd just read about it. Combined with the problems I have with the tendons in my wrists it steered me too harmonica. It does seem to work, but all I have is my own anecdotal experience.
I've also noticed it's really good for panic attacks since it makes you breathing more regulated. I've also read something about it being used in music therapy for people with Alzheimer's.
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Nate
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Philosofy
416 posts
Jun 27, 2012
8:45 PM
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I have never smoked, ran track in HS and college. Since I work with chemicals, one of my employers would have a free physical for us once a year. Part of the physical was a pretty thorough spirometer (lung tests.) One of the tests was you had to blow out until the needle hit a point on the graph, and then breath in until it went down to another line on the graph. You breathed in and out as fast as you could. A score of 100% meant your lungs were fine. I scored 500%. The graph looked like an earthquake going off. The tech didn't believe it, so I did it again. They called in the doctors and nurses to see me do it a third time. :)
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Stevelegh
543 posts
Jun 28, 2012
1:46 AM
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My wife runs clinical trials for COPD. As a smoker for 29 years, I get more than enough grief from her. From what she's told me about COPD, it's something that usually starts happening after 40 years old. I'm now past that and straight in the firing line for alll kinds of nasty stuff. Gotta quit.
They are developing therapies to regrow lung tissue but at the present time COPD is non reversible. You've basically killed lung tissue. If you stop smoking, chances are the condition won't deteriorate further apart from the normal rate of aging, and you can improve the function of whatever is left with therapies.
My wife did a spirometry test on me and I came out at 104%. I do attribute this to playing harp and lifting weights at the time. It was around 2 years ago. I'm feeling pretty gunged up with smoking at the moment and I'm sure that I wouldn't hit that figure now. From what I understand with COPD, it's not necessarily a problem with getting air in, it's letting the air out which requires force as the disease progresses and one of the reasons COPD sufferers get a barrel chest.
I did show my wife the Seydel Medical Harp. She didn't think it was anything too special, but therapies involving harp are a good thing. It's lung exercise, it's something for an ex smoker to do once they've quit, it's learning music. What's not to like?
Last Edited by on Jun 28, 2012 1:47 AM
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Old Hickory
3 posts
Jun 28, 2012
2:18 AM
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Check out HarmonicaMD. It's run by Dr. John Schaman and he's even developed a special harmonica just for use with this kind of therapy. I also noticed that he along with Cheryl Arena, Mary Jane Gormley, and Buddy Wakefield will be doing a harmonica therapy seminar at the upcoming SPAH convention.
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A440
5 posts
Jun 28, 2012
9:14 AM
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I gave some harp lessons to a 12-year old boy who was suffering from asthma. Initially his sounds were very weak. Now, a year later, he is jamming away with loud pure tones on his Blues Harp. His parents told me that he suffers much less from the asthma now.
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BronzeWailer
665 posts
Jun 28, 2012
5:05 PM
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I gave an old harp (blown high end reed)to my step father in law when he had terminal emphysema. He wasn't interested in getting well, alas, and never played it. He had no motivation. Veyr frustrating to watch.
Ian Thorpe started swimming due to asthma, I believe.
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STME58
196 posts
Jun 28, 2012
6:04 PM
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The comment about Ian Thorpe reminded me of Teddy Roosevelt who fought off asthma with vigorus exercise. I wondered if he may have played harp so I did a search and found, along with some great trivia on the Elk River harmonicas site, this gem:
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-our-teddy-theodore-roosevelt-harmonica-with
T.R. may not have played harp, but he had one named after him!
Last Edited by on Jun 28, 2012 6:04 PM
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jbone
985 posts
Jun 28, 2012
9:59 PM
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by the way i have been tobacco free for 54 weeks now, a day, an hour, and a denied puff at a time. i am not yet ready to run a marathon or swim across the lake but i feel much better.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7La7yYYeE
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Miles Dewar
1295 posts
Jun 29, 2012
6:59 AM
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Congratulations jbone! It's a little over 5 years for myself.
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