Why biofeedback would help this problem:

People suffering from Asthma find it very difficult to breathe. If observed carefully one would notice that people with asthma have an unusual breathing pattern. They take in deep breaths and then breathe in and out with very shallow, rapid breaths rather than exhaling all the way. This prevents their being able to take reasonably deep breaths. This leaves them chronically short of breath.

Pneumographic biofeedback is perfect for detecting and retraining this pattern. With the help of Biofeedback techniques asthmatics can be taught to recognize and correct abnormal interactions between heart rate variability and breathing. Correcting this abnormal relationship has been shown to reduce the symptoms of asthma.

Studies conducted to support the role of Biofeedback

Lehrer et al (2004) recently performed a controlled study in which 94 asthmatics were trained using heart rate variability biofeedback with excellent results. Other studies have found signs of reduced inflammation of the lungs and reduced respiratory impedance coincident with reduced symptoms (Kern-Buell, Lehrer et al., 1997; Lehrer, McGrady, Conran, & Nelson, 2000, Lehrer, Smetankin, & Potapova, 2000)

Thus through this study we can see that biofeedback can have a highly significant impact on the severity of asthma related symptoms.

Small clinical studies have also shown positive effects of biofeedback. This therapy is rated as probably efficacious (level 3 on a scale of 1 - 5 with 5 being the best).