Pneumothorax

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I just had a case of pneumothorax in my left lung and my doctors treated it by sealing off a bleb together with pleurodesis.

I cannot confirm, but its onset seemed to be during a set of squats because I immediately felt chest pain/tightness after that set. I tried a couple of air squats after but the situation did not improve. Thinking it was some sort of strain, I went home and slept. Woke up the next morning, felt shortness of breath and slightly more pain. Checked into A&E and was diagnosed and treated.

Haven’t had the chance to speak to my doctors regarding training yet but do you doctors have any recommendations regarding training after recovery? I’m concerned about the valsalva maneuver and whether the pressure in the lungs created by it might trigger a reoccurrence in either the same lung or the other.

2

Hard to say for sure.

Depends whether you have an underlying condition that predisposes you to developing blebs (and therefore pneumothoraces), or this was just a freak occurrence.

3

Thanks Dr. Baraki. After reading quite a bit on the subject these few days, I understand why you would say it’s “hard to say for sure”.

But how would you manage the return to training for a trainee like myself?

4

Once you’ve been cleared from the pulmonary standpoint (and assuming there is no underlying disease process or evidence of multiple other blebs / risk factors for pneumothorax), I’d train you fairly normally.