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Features of glossopharyngeal breathing in breath-hold divers

Departments of ¹Thoracic Medicine, and ²Cardiology, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Submitted 23 January 2006 ; accepted in final form 1 May 2006

One technique employed by competitive breath-hold divers to increase diving depth is to hyperinflate the lungs with glossopharyngeal breathing (GPB). Our aim was to assess the relationship between measured volume and pressure changes due to GPB. Seven healthy male breath-hold divers, age 33 (8) [mean (SD)] years were recruited. Subjects performed baseline body plethysmography (TLC_PRE). Plethysmography and mouth relaxation pressure were recorded immediately following a maximal GPB maneuver at total lung capacity (TLC) (TLC_GPB) and within 5 min after the final GPB maneuver (TLC_POST). Mean TLC increased from TLC_PRE to TLC_GPB by 1.95 (0.66) liters and vital capacity (VC) by 1.92 (0.56) liters (P < 0.0001), with no change in residual volume. There was an increase in TLC_POST compared with TLC_PRE of 0.16 liters (0.14) (P < 0.02). Mean mouth relaxation pressure at TLC_GPB was 65 (19) cmH₂O and was highly correlated with the percent increase in TLC (R = 0.96). Breath-hold divers achieve substantial increases in measured lung volumes using GPB primarily from increasing VC. Approximately one-third of the additional air was accommodated by air compression.

hyperinflation; lung packing; apnea diving

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