Eliminating secretion, raising respiratory efficiency, clearing out the breathing passage, and removing mucus, all of these are treated by chest physiotherapy. Chest physiotherapy’s purpose is to help breathe more freely and give more oxygen to the body. It helps to clear out the secretions from airways in the body. Good respiratory health is achieved by clearing the airways from secretion. Chest physiotherapy is performed by physiotherapists and respiratory therapists.
There are several techniques used in chest physiotherapy. Here we present the best techniques used.
Percussion, also known as clapping, is a method where hands are cupped and strike on the chest, back and under the arms. Percussion breaks the thick secretion in the lungs and makes it easier to extract. Percussion is done on each side for a minimum time of two minutes. The patient should feel comfortable and be in a painless position when performing percussion. Children above two years of age will be comfortable with mechanical percussion.
Vibration is used with percussion to help loosen the secretion in the lungs. Vibrations are performed by placing the hand on the patient’s chest and contracting them. While performing vibration, a patient’s arms and shoulders should be relaxed and they should breathe slowly to enhance the effect of airflow. Vibrations are mechanical and manual too. A patient should not feel discomfort while performing vibrations as it can inhibit the airflow.
Coughing helps to break the secretion and makes a person expectorate the mucus. Patients need to sit upright on a chair and breath deeply through the nose. After that, the patient should exhale in cough. This procedure should be repeated several times. As mucus is full of germs, it is essential to cough it out. Don’t spread germs when coughing. Use a tissue paper to cough the mucus on it and later wash your hands adequately.
Deep breathing helps the air to reach all parts of the lungs. Deep breath expands the lungs and improves the distribution of air in the lungs. The patient has to sit upright on a chair or bed, then the patient inhales the air and pushes the stomach to get the maximum amount of air into the lungs. Abdomen then gets contracted and the patient exhales. Deep breathing can be practised several times a day for short periods.
Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) is equivalent to standard chest physiotherapy. It is done through a mechanical device. When you breath out with force on through the device, it creates a positive pressure in the airways and keeps them open. This helps the air to reach the beneath areas. This device can be used for children above the age of four.
These are the best techniques to have a comfortable and relieving chest physiotherapy. Use these techniques next time whenever you go for chest physiotherapy. And if the discomfort persists, you can visit our physiotherapy clinic.