Written from firsthand experience with a deviated septum and checked against clinical sources. We make Ventriq Nasal Strips, so we are always upfront that a strip relieves symptoms rather than fixing the structural problem. Read our methodology or our editorial policy.
If you are asking what the best nasal strips for squash are, my answer is a strip built for sport rather than sleep, something with a stiff spring and an adhesive that holds through the sweat of a fast paced match. Squash is one of the most demanding racket sports there is, and the enclosed court gives you almost no fresh air and almost no recovery time between rallies. A strip will not turn you into a better player, but it can make it easier to keep breathing through your nose in the short gaps you do get, which matters more in squash than in almost any other sport I have tried.
I built Ventriq after a Consultant Otolaryngologist at a private hospital in Dublin looked at my nose and told me I had a significantly deviated septum, bad enough that he recommended surgery. I had played rugby for over a decade by then and broken my nose more than once along the way, so the diagnosis was not exactly a shock. I put the operation off and made my own strips as a stopgap so I could actually breathe and sleep properly in the meantime. Squash was not my sport growing up, but I have played enough games with friends since to know exactly what it feels like when your nose cannot keep up with the pace of the rally and you are suddenly gasping through your mouth on a court with no airflow to speak of.
Why Nasal Breathing Matters in Squash
Squash rallies are short, brutal, and repeated with barely any rest. You are sprinting to the front corner, lunging for a drop shot, then sprinting back to the T, sometimes a dozen times inside a single point. Your heart rate climbs fast and stays high, and the recovery window between points is often only a few seconds, not the minute or two you get in tennis or padel.
Nasal breathing slows your breathing rate, warms and filters the air, and produces nitric oxide as it passes through your nasal passages, which acts as a natural opener for your airways and blood vessels. Mouth breathing skips all of that. The trouble with squash specifically is the environment: you are playing inside a sealed glass and plaster box with recycled air, often warm and a little dusty. That already makes nasal breathing harder work than it would be outdoors, and if you have any structural narrowing such as a deviated septum, the enclosed court air makes the limitation far more obvious than it would be on a quiet walk.
How Nasal Strips Help Squash Players
A nasal strip sits across the lower half of your nose and uses a spring action to pull the nasal valve open from the outside. The nasal valve is the narrowest part of your entire airway, and it is exactly the part that collapses inward when you breathe in hard, which is most of a squash match.
For a player with a deviated septum, the strip helps most on the side where the deviation already crowds the airway, giving back some of the width that the structure takes away. For a player with a straight septum, the main benefit is stopping the dynamic collapse of the nasal valve under load, which happens to almost everyone once the breathing gets heavy enough. In squash, where you rarely get a proper rest between points, keeping the nose open during even a few seconds of recovery can be the difference between resetting your breathing and starting the next rally already behind on air.
I wear the Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips for anything physical, squash included. They use a firmer spring than a sleep strip and an adhesive built to survive sweat, which matters on a squash court where you are working hard in a warm enclosed space for the entire session.
Our pick for squash
Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips
Drug free strips built to stay put through sweat and hold the nasal valve open, so you keep breathing through your nose when the effort ramps up. From EUR 20, with buy more save more packs.
Shop Ventriq SportSleeping or recovering instead? See Ventriq Sleep, or read how to choose the right strip.
What to Look for in a Squash Nasal Strip
Not every nasal strip is built the same, and for squash a few things actually matter:
- Adhesive strength: sweat builds up fast in an enclosed court, and a strip made for sleep will peel within the first few games.
- Spring tension: a stronger spring gives you more benefit in the brief recovery windows you actually get.
- Fit and position: the strip needs to sit over the soft cartilage of your nose, not the bony bridge higher up, or it will not lift anything.
- Comfort under eyewear: some players wear eye protection in squash, so a strip needs to sit flat enough that it does not interfere with the strap.
I have tried plenty of strips that were fine for an easy night of sleep and useless the moment a proper sweat set in. The Ventriq Sport strip holds through a full session.
Does It Actually Improve Performance?
I want to be honest here rather than oversell it. The evidence on nasal strips improving measurable athletic performance is mixed at best. Some small studies report a modest improvement in perceived breathing effort, others find no real change in VO2 max or power output. A nasal strip is not going to raise your aerobic ceiling, and it will not fix a deviated septum, it only widens the outside of the nasal valve.
What I notice myself, and what plenty of players tell me, is a subjective difference rather than a measured one. Breathing through your nose during those short gaps between rallies feels calmer and less rushed, and it is easier to hold your composure instead of arriving at the next point already gasping. Whether that shows up as extra points won is going to depend on the player and the match. I have gone into the research in more depth in Do Nasal Strips Improve Athletic Performance, if you want the fuller picture.
Nasal Strips if You Have a Deviated Septum
If you have a deviated septum and you play squash regularly, you are probably going to notice more benefit from a strip than someone with a straight nose, simply because you are starting from a narrower airway before the match even begins. The enclosed court air and the lack of recovery time between points both make that starting disadvantage more obvious than it would be in most other sports. I have written a fuller breakdown in Best Nasal Strips for a Deviated Septum, and if poor breathing at night is also affecting how you recover between sessions, How to Sleep Better with a Deviated Septum covers what has actually worked for me.
My Recommendation
For squash, get the Ventriq Sport Nasal Strips. They are built to survive a sweaty, enclosed session and they hold the nasal valve open through the short bursts that make up most of a match. If you also play tennis or padel, the same logic applies there, and I have covered both in Best Nasal Strips for Tennis and Best Nasal Strips for Padel. If squash leaves you breathing badly at night as well, the Ventriq Sleep Nasal Strips and How to Choose the Right Nasal Strip are good next stops.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are nasal strips allowed in squash?
Yes. A nasal strip is a mechanical aid with no drug action, so it has no relevance to anti doping rules, and nothing in the rules of squash restricts wearing one on court.
Will a nasal strip stay on during a sweaty squash match?
A sleep strip usually will not, most start peeling inside the first twenty minutes once you are sweating heavily. A sport specific strip with a stronger adhesive is built to hold through a full session in a warm enclosed court.
Where should I place a nasal strip for squash?
Across the soft cartilage in the lower half of your nose, not the bony bridge higher up. You should feel the spring lifting slightly as you breathe in. If you do not feel that, it is sitting too high to do anything.
Do nasal strips help with the short recovery time between squash points?
They help you keep breathing through your nose in the brief gaps you do get, which tends to feel calmer than switching to mouth breathing every point. They will not extend your recovery window, they just make better use of the seconds you have.
Do I need a deviated septum for a nasal strip to help in squash?
No. Dynamic collapse of the nasal valve under hard breathing happens even with a straight septum, and a strip helps with that regardless. It just tends to matter more if you already have a structural narrowing.
Can wearing eye protection affect how a nasal strip fits?
A well placed strip sits flat enough that squash goggles or a strap should not disturb it. If your goggles keep lifting the edge of the strip, try positioning it slightly lower on the soft cartilage and pressing the edges down firmly before you start.
