Symptoms of exercise-induced asthma in children - Summa Health

Exercise-induced asthma can keep you and your child out of the activities you loves. Learn the symptoms and treatment options from Dr. Robert Crawford’s video.

Cough, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, and poor performance occurring five to twenty minutes after strenuous exercise could be signs and symptoms that your child has exercise-induced asthma. Exercise-induced asthma happens when the bronchial tubes undergo constriction and inflammation. This can happen in about 10 percent of athletes. Up to fifty percent of patients with allergies and in patients with known asthma ninety percent of the time, exercise can be a trigger for asthma symptoms
If your child experiences these signs and symptoms after activity, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing or wheezing minutes into aerobic activity. These are common in running sports like cross country, soccer, and basketball. They might have exercise-induced asthma.
Exercise-induced asthma should never limit your child's activities. At Summa, we use a team approach to make the diagnosis involving the athlete, parents, coaches and certified athletic trainers to give you the best outcome.
Treatments can include preventative measures by covering your mouth and nose during cold air exercises, proper warmup 15 minutes before your event, cool-down exercises, and avoiding air pollutants and allergens.
Medications can also be used to improve the symptoms.

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