A didjeridu a day ...

A six-month pilot study involving 10 Aboriginal schoolboys with asthma has found that regularly playing wind instruments such as the didjeridu may improve the respiratory function of asthmatics. The boys who participated in this study, most of whom were teenagers, experienced improved respiratory function following six months of weekly didjeridu lessons. They maintained their normal medication practices throughout the study period. The study, led by Robert Eley from the University of Southern Queensland, was published in a recent edition of the Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are 1.5 times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to experience asthma (Courier Mail, 9/01/08, p.20).