MODEL RELEASED. Asthma spacer. 63-year-old woman using a spacer (plastic chamber) with an inhaler (lower left) to treat her asthma. Asthma is a condition in which the small airways (bronchioles) in the lungs constrict, making it difficult to breathe. This causes wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. The symptoms can be relieved or prevented using bronchodilator drugs administered via an aerosol pump. Some people find the speed at which the drug is released is too fast. The spacer reduces the speed and makes it easier for the patient to inhale the medication.