Papworth method

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · 1960 · England

What it is

The Papworth method is an integrated breathing and relaxation technique that physiotherapists have used since the 1960s. It is named after Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, England. It combines four elements: breathing training, education about stress and breathing, relaxation training, and…

Format

• Format in the sources.
• Holloway and West: five individual sessions of about an hour, all with a respiratory physiotherapist, spread over the months between baseline and post-treatment assessment (about six months). An audiotape or CD with reminders was given at the third session, with practice encouraged at least daily.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Education and breathing training at rest. Goal: the client understands how stress and breathing interact and can produce a quiet, diaphragmatic, nasal pattern while lying semi-recumbent.
• Relaxation training. Goal: specific and general relaxation that the client can call up on cue.
• Version followed: the Papworth method as described in the one controlled trial of it, Holloway and West (Thorax, 2007, Box 1: five individual sessions with a respiratory physiotherapist in primary care). The guide also draws on the shorter Papworth-derived physiotherapy breathing retraining used in the BREATHE trial (Bruton et al., Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2018: three face-to-face sessions, or a DVD and…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (brief, as reviews state it).

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• pressing for meaning or memories. Not every sensation has a psychological story.
• the client feeling dismissed ("sent elsewhere"), or mixed messages between professionals.
• perfectionism, practising until symptoms appear, or practice turning into constant checking of breathing.
• dissociation, shame about the body, or freezing when observed. Agree adaptations with the client and, with consent, with the physiotherapist.
• drop-out when symptoms ease, and relapse at times of stress. Signs it is working: fewer breathing-related symptoms, less avoidance, and a client who can describe their own plan.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.