J
jwk
Guest
When I was a child, I never used to focus much on doing my inhalations properly. I did them twice a day like I was told but the effect was probably small to nonexistent due to poor technique. I did know the correct technique but it was easier and more fun to do something else while inhaling and ignoring the effectiveness. Luckily, I did a lot of sports so it never really mattered but now when I am grown up I find it incredibly boring to do the inhalations effectively. It is possible to do the inhalations very effectively if there are no outer distractions but if I e.g. read my mail while inhaling this usually leads to very poor inhalation results.
Since I study computer science I thought that I'd make a program which monitors my breathing while inhaling and corrects me if I do it the wrong way. I.e. a certain amount of air inhaled and exhaled at a certain pace and AD after a X breaths and pauses for the PEP etc. . I thought I'd make it into a computer game to make inhalation slightly less boring. Then I started experimenting with showing youtube videos while inhaling in this way. In this way I could do something slightly more meaningful while doing a pretty effective inhalation. To actually monitor my own inhalation I needed a spirometer so I contacted a company which helped me build a prototype.
This program of mine is still in the prototype phase, but we are starting to wonder whether this kind of guided inhalation could be useful for more people than just me. I can think of at least three possible applications of such a program.
But these theories are based on two assumptions:
Since I don't have much contact with the CF community I don't know if these assumptions are true just for me or if there are more people experiencing the same problems.
Therefore my questions to you are:
Do you think that these assumptions apply to many people with CF?
And if so, do you think that there is a market for either a motivational game for children or a tool for adults?
Since I study computer science I thought that I'd make a program which monitors my breathing while inhaling and corrects me if I do it the wrong way. I.e. a certain amount of air inhaled and exhaled at a certain pace and AD after a X breaths and pauses for the PEP etc. . I thought I'd make it into a computer game to make inhalation slightly less boring. Then I started experimenting with showing youtube videos while inhaling in this way. In this way I could do something slightly more meaningful while doing a pretty effective inhalation. To actually monitor my own inhalation I needed a spirometer so I contacted a company which helped me build a prototype.
This program of mine is still in the prototype phase, but we are starting to wonder whether this kind of guided inhalation could be useful for more people than just me. I can think of at least three possible applications of such a program.
- One could make it into a game with scores and special effects to motivate children.
- One could let adults use it as a tool to get effective inhalations done while also doing other meaningful stuff.
- One could use it as a tool for physiotherapists when analyzing a patients inhalation. I added some simple logging to my program so that every inhalation session creates a inhaled volume versus time graph. This graph could possibly be used to analyze inhalation when visiting a physiotherapist.
But these theories are based on two assumptions:
- It is almost impossible to perform an effective inhalation while focusing on something else.
- Children do not inhale as effectively as they could and need something that motivates and/or guides them.
Since I don't have much contact with the CF community I don't know if these assumptions are true just for me or if there are more people experiencing the same problems.
Therefore my questions to you are:
Do you think that these assumptions apply to many people with CF?
And if so, do you think that there is a market for either a motivational game for children or a tool for adults?