Effect of the new nasal dilator DAN-Air® on nasal breathing and performance in elite rowers

Aim. The aim of this paper was to evaluate, in elite athletes, the effect on nasal ventilation and performance of Dan-Air (R), a novel commercially available device to be introduced in the nostrils which increases the nasal valve area. Methods. The study was performed on 20 male athletes of the under-23 Italian Rowing Team during the meeting preceding the U23 Word Rowing Championship 2012. All the athletes underwent an accurate anamnesis, a complete objective ENT examination and a rhinomanometry performed with Rhinopocket (R) at study entry, first without and subsequently with DAN-AIR. After the basal evaluation, athletes were randomly divided in two groups of 10 subjects. For 10 days athletes of group A trained with device and those of group B trained without device. At the end of this period athletes underwent a maximal 2000-meters rowing ergometer test with determination of plasma lactate and time to finish. Results. Rhinomanometry demonstrated a significant reduction of total nasal resistance with Dan-Air (R) and a significant increase of nasal breathing in all the athletes associated with a subjective improvement of nasal breathing. Total inspiratory NARs resulted 0.337 +/- 0.11 Pa/cm(3)/s without Dan-Air (R) and 0.159 +/- 0.13 with Dan-Air (R), (Delta 52.8%); total expiratory NARs resulted 0.328 +/- 0.12 Pa/cm(3)/s without Dan-Air (R) and 0.179 +/- 0.14 (Delta 45.4%) with Dan-Air (R). However, no significant differences were found between athletes of group A and group B in both lactate values and time to finish in the maximal rowing-ergometer test. Conclusion. Dan-Air is effective in improving nasal ventilation in elite athletes, however, this effect does not translate in performance improvement in the short time.