Quickness > Physical Quickness > What to Do for EIB / EIA Attacks In Soccer

What to Do for EIB and EIA Attacks In Sports

EIB (Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm) and EIA (Exercise-Induced Asthma) Attacks occur when a player is not able to breathe during exercise due to one or more triggers being present.
  • In some cases the player has temporary issue (very cold day, for example) and the player will not have another attack for an extended period of time, even years or during the rest of their life.
  • In other cases the player will have more than one attack during a season and should be evaluated by their doctor, who will often prescribe use of an inhaler prior to exercise, wearing a mask in cold weather or when pollen counts are high. Many players outgrow EIA / EIB attacks as they get older or they move to a different location.

Symptoms
Symptoms of an attack include shortness of breath, gasping for breath, wheezing, chest discomfort and desperately trying to get one's breath. Player may also be squeezing their lips together to get more pressure to get air into the lungs, be turning bluish due to lack of oxygen and/or be down on their knees leaning forward with their elbows on the ground.

If a player shows these symptoms yell to the referee that you have a player in respiratory distress that needs immediate attention.

Symptoms usually occur 5 to 15 minutes after a player enters the game.
  • If the player calms their breathing down very quickly they will usually return to normal and the player will usually not have another attack on the same day.

Calming the Player Down
If the player and/or their parents panic the player will not be able to calm down easily and their condition can worsen. The procedure below works well with most players. If the player doesn't calm down and breathing does not return to normal reasonably quickly call for emergency medical care.

To get the players to calm down:
  • Firmly and in a calm voice instruct the player that they need to calm down and to breath slowly and deeply,
  • Hold their hands and raise the arms up over their head to help expand the lungs so they can breathe deeply,
  • Repeat "breath slowly and deeply" as you assure them that everything will be fine if they "breath slowly and deeply",
  • Continue doing these things and their breathing should slow down fairly quickly.

Recovery Period
Players who calm down within a minute or two should sit on the team bench and breathe slowly and deeply for a while. they can also drink a little water or liquid as they calm down. Most players will not usually have more than one episode a day and can play again as long as