Mini post: Ice rinks and asthma

When I was diagnosed with asthma as a kid, I remember someone saying that it wouldn’t go away unless I stopped skating because of the air quality in rinks. I was wondering what the research on this is.

Rundell (2004) found that the pulmonary function, basically how well a person breaths, of a group of female hockey players declined significantly after the players moved to a rink with a Zamboni (ice resurfacing machine) that was powered with fossil fuels. This indicates that symptom severity is related to the level of particulate matter in the air, which means that rinks, or more specifically the equipment used to maintain the rink does have a significant impact on how well athletes who train in these environments are able to breath.