Breathing & Blood Pressure

Prior treatment

• Previous bariatric surgery
• Patients who have undergone recent abdominal surgery and those with abdominal hernia.

Other illness

• Overt cardiovascular, neurological, renal, liver, and/or metabolic illness (e.g., diabetes mellitus)
• Current, or history of uncontrolled, Stage 2 hypertension (blood pressure \>140 / 90 mmHg; anti-hypertensive medications are permitted)
• Diagnosis or signs (e.g., values below the lower limit of normal) of overt airway disease(s)
• If a patient is suffering from a ruptured eardrum or any other condition of the ear.
• Patients with worsening heart failure signs and symptoms after a respiratory/inspiratory muscle training (IMT) session
• If you are suffering from a cold, sinusitis, or respiratory tract infection, we advise that you do not use your POWERbreathe IMT device.

Other

• Not weight stable (\<5% change in body mass over the past six months)
• Diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea
• Current or recent (regular use within the past 6 months) use of tobacco or nicotine products (e.g., cigarettes, vaping)
• Per the POWERbreathe® company:
• Asthma patients who have a very low symptom perception and suffer from frequent, severe exacerbations or with an abnormally low perception of dyspnoea.
• Patients with marked elevated left ventricular end-diastolic volume and pressure.
• Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers)
• Pregnant (self-reported and urine pregnancy test conducted), lactating (self-reported), or post-menopausal (self-reported) females
• Prisoners

• Body mass index values of ≤40 kg/m\^2