A physical monitoring system for monitoring and measuring a patients respiration is described. The system includes one or more resistive or inductive respiration belts (110a, 10b), an electronic monitoring device (102) with a processor programmed to compute respiration and a module retainer (104) for accommodating the electronic monitoring device and securing the electronic monitoring device to the one or more resistive or inductive respiration belts. The system further includes electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes (108) attached to or embedded in theone or more resistive or inductive respiration belts. The ECG electrodes are connected with the electronic monitoring module (102) via wires passing through the belts. The system can further include an accelerometer (204) integrated with one or more of the ECG electrodes that are attached to or embedded in theone or more resistive or inductive respiration belts.
