HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury
Spirometry
A spirometry test measures how well your lungs are working.
During the test, you'll be asked to breathe into a tube connected to a machine. You'll be asked to breath out hard and fast and to keep breathing out for as long as you can.
You'll need to repeat this three times to get an accurate recording.
Sometimes, you'll be asked to repeat the test after having an inhaler.
There are many places in Canterbury where your doctor can send you for a spirometry test, including community medical centres. The Christchurch Hospital respiratory physiology laboratory also does spirometry testing.
HealthInfo recommends the following videos
- National Asthma Council Australia – Performing spirometry in primary care
A video showing how spirometry is done.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ – Understanding spirometry
Information about what happens when you have a spirometry test.
- Patient.info – Spirometry
Detailed information about spirometry including what a spirometer measures, and the difference between normal readings and readings that indicate conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed June 2021.
Review key: HISPI-15604
