[Sally Le Page (OP)]

Paul sent us this question:

"If one is recovering or has recovered from COVID, would playing bagpipes help to expand the lungs and be beneficial or detrimental?"

What do you think?

[Colin2B]

Patients with post Covid lung problems are usually prescribed breathing exercises. These are specially designed to improve breathing function and include deep breathing, and also breath exercises to release mucus build up. It would be better to follow one of these programmes eg Active Cycle of Breathing Techniques (ACBT) rather than try to use the type of breathing required by bagpipe playing. It might also be kinder to your family and neighbours 

If you are looking to learn bagpipes can I recommend a set of Hummelchen or other folk pipes as they produce beautiful sounds (when you get it right) and are often overlooked. They are similar to Swedish bagpipes.

[Bored chemist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/aug/23/bagpipe-lung-a-new-name-for-a-very-old-disease

[Colin2B]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/aug/23/bagpipe-lung-a-new-name-for-a-very-old-disease

Yes, I’ve come across this before. Important to have a properly treated leather bag.
You can’t be too careful with moulds, I use a mask when turning eg a grass pile.

[alancalverd]

The joy of bagpipes is that you don't have to blow hard once the bag is inflated, and being a high pressure reed instrument it is extremely efficient at converting wind into noise.

If you want plenty of lung exercise and music, I recommend the tuba. Playing the "pedal" notes around 30 Hz (some players can go down to 16 Hz) takes a lot of wind because the flapping lip or tongue is not an efficient tone generator. Introducing the band to a local journalist,  my musical director said "...and those blokes at the back that look like bass players, are bass players." Best of all, brass is a biocide so we get loads of aerobic exercise with very little lung disease. For a full mental and physical workout, try marching with a BBb tuba - beer never tasted so good!

[nudephil]

Thanks all for a rousing discussion. You can hear our answer on the show:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/could-bagpipes-help-you-recover-after-covid