What should you know about a Schiller spirometer?

A Schiller spirometer measures how much air you breathe and how quickly you can move it. During spirometry, you breathe through a mouthpiece while the device records your airflow and lung volumes. The equipment supports testing; a clinician interprets the measurements in context rather than relying on one number alone.

The pattern can help assess narrowed airways, reduced lung volume, or changes in breathing after an inhaled medicine. Results are compared with expected values that take factors such as age, height, and sex into account. A single test may be affected by effort, technique, recent illness, or smoking, so the clinician may repeat manoeuvres or arrange further assessment.

Wear comfortable clothing and follow the clinic’s instructions about meals, smoking, exercise, and inhalers before testing; do not stop prescribed medicine unless the clinician tells you to. Sit upright, seal your lips around the mouthpiece, breathe as instructed, and blow hard and fully when asked. Several attempts are common because consistent technique helps produce a useful result.

Get urgent help for severe breathlessness at rest, blue or grey lips, confusion, fainting, or chest pain that does not settle. During or after testing, tell the clinician immediately if you develop intense dizziness, chest tightness, or breathing that is much worse than usual. A routine spirometry appointment is not a substitute for emergency assessment.

Ask what the test is investigating, whether to use your usual inhaler beforehand, how your effort affects the result, and when the interpretation will be available. Ask what the next step would be if the measurements are outside the expected range.