Decrease of resistance to air flow with nasal strips as measured with the airflow perturbation device

This study tested forty-seven volunteers (14 men and 33 women), ranging in age from 17 to 51. Each volunteer was instructed to breathe normally into the APD using an oronasal mask with and without nasal strips. The APD measured respiratory resistance during inhalation, exhalation, and an average of the two.Results of a paired mean t-test comparing nasal strip against no nasal strip were statistically significant at the p = 0.05 level. The Breathe Right？ nasal dilator strips lowered nasal resistance by an average of 0.5 cm H20/Lps from an average nasal resistance of 5.5 cm H20/Lps.Nasal strips reduce nasal resistance when measured with the APD. The effect is equal during exhalation and during inhalation.Nasal dilator strips (NDS) are used by athletes, people who snore, and asthmatics to ease the burden of breathing. The nasal strips are used as a mechanical means of reducing nasal airflow resistance [1]. By lowering nasal resistance, they reduce the work of breathing and the supply of oxygen into the body could increase [2,3].The size of the nostril limits the amount of air entering into the body. The NDS is placed along the nasal valve of the nose. The adhesiveness of the strip binds to the creases of the nasal valve to prevent the outer wall tissue of the nose from collapsing inward during nasal breathing. This mechanism thus dilates the nose and allows more air to flow into the nose [3].The primary effect of the NDS could be either to dilate the air passage of the nose or to stiffen the nasal wall. Either mechanism would reduce nasal resistance and allow higher flow of air, but they can be distinguished over a range of air flows. Stiffening the nasal wall would have its most profound effect at higher flows where the Bernoulli effect would decrease internal nasal pressures and tend to constrict nasal passage diameter. Air passage dilation would tend to decrease nasal resistance more uniformly over a range of air flows.Recent studies on the effectiveness of Breathe