UDEME UDOFIA: The hardest time I had playing sports with asthma was between the ages of 7 and 14, when I was in elementary and middle school. That’s when I had the most difficulty controlling my breathing and asthma attacks. I would get scared whenever I felt the sensation of struggling to breathe.

As I grew, I realized I could compare asthma to being a long-distance runner because running is an intense activity that makes you short of breath. The key is controlling your breathing and focusing your attention on taking deep breaths instead of worrying about the panic that comes during the onset of an asthma attack.

I used several different treatments— ranging from daily nebulizer treatments to inhalers and prescription medicine (mainly Prednisone)—to combat my asthma. Interestingly, one of the best pieces of advice I got was to swim, in addition to the other sports I played. Swimming worked my upper and lower body and helped to cultivate the endurance I needed when I ran out on the basketball court or football field or onto the playground during recess. Swimming is very good for your lungs, which helped with my asthma.

Near the end of my freshman year of high school, I started to grow out of my asthma. Some of the athletes I know at Stanford still have asthma, and they deal with it on a regular basis. These athletes stick to the regimens their doctors give them to combat their differing degrees of asthma. As long as they stay on track and use their preventative measures, it is usually not a problem. However, everyone has a bad day from time to time. During the spring, when my allergies flare up, I sometimes feel the need to use an inhaler to open my lungs. But for the most part, asthma is something that I feel is now under control.

JOSEPH YUSIN, M.D.: Studies show that 30 to 40 percent of asthmatic children believe that asthma prevents them from participating in sports. In fact, 90 percent of those children can perform as well as others in athletics. Due to the cardiovascular benefits, exercise plays a vital role in managing children diagnosed with asthma.

Children diagnosed with asthma should work with their health care providers to learn how best to control their asthma, including how to prepare for athletic events, and have action plans for possible asthma attacks during activities.

Children with asthma should warm up properly before participating in sporting events and should have easy access to water at all times. Proper warm-ups include stretching, breathing exercises, calisthenics, slow jogging or easy laps in a pool, all of which can lower the chance of asthma attacks during an athletic performance. They should have their rescue medicine—bronchodilators including albuterol, Proventil, Xopenex and others—easily available.

Parents should help their children develop an action plan in case of an attack during exercise. Children should know to stop exercising, tell an adult and take their rescue medicine. If asthma attacks occur routinely during activity, the child needs further medical intervention.

Asthmatic children should have the freedom to choose any sporting activities they desire. Certain sports are considered asthamgenic (more likely to cause an attack) but they can be played if the athlete follows an action plan. Sports that are asthmagenic include those that involve exposure to cold and/or require persistent activity without much rest in between. Examples include hockey, soccer and football. Less asthmagenic sports have more rest periods in between periods of physical exertion—like baseball and softball. Swimming is the least asthmagenic sport because it involves the controlled breathing of warm, moist air.

Asthma is best controlled with what are considered maintenance medications, which include various steroid inhalers and anti-inflammatory pills (leukotriene antagonists). The type of medication and the dose that is needed will depend on the severity of the child’s asthma and should be discussed with a health care provider.

Asthma is a chronic illness and with time can improve or persist. There is always a possibility that children diagnosed with asthma may have minimal symptoms and even outgrow asthma with time, although asthma can reoccur at anytime. For this reason, it is important to continue medications and work with your health care provider when it comes to lowering medication doses and possibly weaning off them. Children with persistent asthma and children that have allergic-type asthma are less likely to outgrow asthma than children who experience asthma intermittently (for example, during respiratory infections alone).

Overall, children diagnosed with asthma should be encouraged to participate in sports. With proper management and communication with health care providers, asthmatics participating in exercise will lead fuller and healthier lives.