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 They were trained to take quick deep breaths constantly while
climbing, said coauthor Dr. Geert A. Buijze of the Department of
Orthopedic Surgery at the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam in The
Netherlands.
“Compare it to the deep breathing when performing strenuous
exercises,” Buijze told Reuters Health by email.
Acute mountain sickness (AMS) can affect anyone who ascends above
8,000 feet too rapidly. Symptoms are usually mild, but severe cases
can result in blue skin, chest tightness, confusion, coughing up
blood and inability to walk.
For the new experiment, which was reported in a letter to the editor
in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, the climbers received
special training in advance, including mindset coaching, cold
exposure, and breathing technique practice.
They were trained to intentionally hyperventilate while climbing,
including regular 30-minute breathing sessions, using the “Wim Hof”
method, inspired by Tummo meditation.
“During the exercises, periods of strong hyperventilation were
alternated with short periods of breath retention,” Buijze said.
The method of hyperventilation can improve endurance and enhance
perceived energy levels as well as generate more body heat during
cold exposure, the authors write.
The Kilimanjaro ascent usually takes four to seven days even for
experienced climbers, they say, and 24 of their group of 26
nonathletes – some of whom also had diagnoses like multiple
sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or cancer – reached the summit (at
5,895 meters, or 19,341 feet, above sea level) in 48 hours.
Unlike most other high peaks, climbing to the top of Mount
Kilimanjaro doesn't require special equipment. "Most climbers reach
the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, proper
clothing and determination," according to the official website of
Tanzania National Parks.
“The greatest challenge of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in 48 hours
is not so much the distance or ascent but the high altitude with
inherent risk of AMS,” Buijze said. “The climbers rested and slept
several hours each night, similar to other climbers. The differences
are the longer distances of ascent each day and no resting days
required for acclimatization.”
Two trekkers had to stop 200 meters short of the summit with
symptoms of physical or respiratory exhaustion. None of the climbers
experienced severe AMS, while six had moderate AMS and 22 had mild
symptoms.
The exact mechanism of AMS is still unclear, and why this breath
training would have prevented or treated it is also unclear, the
authors write, but the fact that the climbers were extensively
trained in the technique was probably important.
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The safety of the technique will need to be studied more before any
recommendations can be made, Buijze said.
AMS tends to be especially common on Kilimanjaro, said Andrew Luks,
a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Harborview Medical
Center in Seattle.
Even with the fastest path, the Marangu Route, experienced climbers
take four to five days to make the ascent, Luks said. He was not
involved in the new study.
“In general, the faster you go, the greater the likelihood you will
have severe AMS,” he said. “It is without further information hard
to believe that 92 percent of these people could summit by that
route in only two days time.”
Some studies have suggested that ventilating more may be protective,
he said.
“The gist of it is it’s an intriguing idea but it is nowhere near
ready for prime time and should not change anyone’s practice now,”
he said.
“The major weakness of this study is the lack of an appropriate
control group and the lack of blinding the subjects and
investigators towards the intervention,” said Dr. Peter Bartsch,
Chair in Sports Medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany,
who was also not involved in the study.
Bartsch has studied similar ascents in the Swiss-Italian Alps, and
moderate AMS affected about half of the climbers, while severe AMS
was rare, he said.
The only difference in the new results is that moderate AMS affected
fewer climbers, he said.
“This may, to a large extent, be attributed to a placebo effect
which is considerable with reporting symptoms of AMS as we had shown
in a study,” Bartsch said. “In summary, we cannot draw any
generalizable conclusions from this preliminary report.”
Luks agreed.
“We can’t look at their results and say, oh this works,” Luks said.
“You can only say, hmm, it’s possible.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/105xelL Wilderness & Environmental Medicine,
October 13, 2014
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