Breathing therapy for patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms and dysfunctional breathing. A pilot and feasibility trial.

Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are symptoms without an identifiable organic cause that lead to functional impairment. MUPS is highly prevalent in general practice consultations. This pilot trial aimed to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of a 5-week breathing retraining program for patients meeting the criteria for MUPS. The trial used a quantitative observational design with pre- and post-intervention measurements. Fifteen participants with MUPS and dysfunctional breathing (assessed by the Nijmegen Questionnaire) were recruited from two general practitioner offices. The intervention consisted of 5 weekly sessions including education on breathing physiology and weekly breathing exercises focused on nasal breathing and resonance breathing techniques. The data set consist of measurements (Nijmegen Questionnaire, The Subjective Health Complaints Inventory, The Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile, End-tidal CO2, blood pressure, and heart rate variability) recorded pre-intervention, 1 week post intervention, and three months post-intervention.