Sulu Fitzpatrick: effective breathing helped her get over Covid and perform as an athlete. Photo / Getty Images
Sulu Fitzpatrick: effective breathing helped her get over Covid and perform as an athlete. Photo / Getty Images
Silver Ferns and Northern Mystics netballer Sulu Fitzpatrick thought she was okay after picking up Covid-19 on the national team’s UK tour in early 2022.
But in the weeks and months afterwards, she realised the effect the virus was still having on her as an athlete.
“If I was doingeveryday things, I was fine. It’s the impact it had on me being able to do my job as an athlete that I really noticed. The breathlessness, my heart rate and my ability to recover.”
Physiotherapist and academic Scott Peirce describes what Fitzpatrick was going through as “the biggest, nastiest symptom” for most people who struggle post-Covid, a symptom known as post-exertional malaise.
“It’s not just, ‘I’m tired.’ It’s more, ‘I went to exercise and I am crushed’, for the next two days to a week. It’s crushing fatigue.”
Peirce worked with Fitzpatrick to help her get back to normal. In the process, they discovered she had undiagnosed asthma. Both that and the lingering Covid symptoms were helped by relearning how to breathe.
“I honestly had no idea how quickly I breathed and the impact that had on my performance,” Fitzpatrick says. “At rest, I was breathing at five times the ideal, so when I was getting into high-intensity sessions, my rate of breathing was already high.”
Peirce taught her breathing techniques she could use both during games and at home.
She says she’s now incorporated these into her normal routine, and the team’s adopted them as well.
“Not only does it centre us as a team, but it also gets everyone recovered quicker to be able to perform. I’ve honestly found it extremely helpful.”
Fitzpatrick says though she’d be happy not to have Covid again, in some ways it’s been a blessing in disguise.
“I think it’s actually helped me to be better in the long run, not just for everyday life but also as an athlete. I wish I had known about [effective] breathing earlier – it’s another tool you can add to your kit as an athlete.
“I think it should be a given for all athletes to get that education.”
