- How to do respiratory physiotherapy
- What is respiratory physiotherapy for?
- 1. Respiratory physiotherapy in pediatrics
- 2. Outpatient respiratory physiotherapy
- 3. Hospital respiratory physiotherapy
- 4. Home respiratory physiotherapy
- Main benefits of respiratory physiotherapy
Respiratory physiotherapy is a specialty of physiotherapy that aims to prevent and treat virtually all diseases that affect the respiratory system, such as asthma, bronchitis, respiratory failure and tuberculosis, for example. It should always be performed by the physiotherapist at home, at the clinic, at the hospital or at work.
Breathing exercises are also essential to improve breathing and mobilize the ventilatory muscles. In addition, respiratory physiotherapy can also be performed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), even when the patient is intubated, that is, breathing with the help of devices.
How to do respiratory physiotherapy
Some examples of respiratory physiotherapy exercises to increase lung capacity in case of breathing difficulties, for example, are:
- Lying on your side on a sloping surface, where your legs and feet remain higher than your torso, which helps to eliminate secretions; Sitting in a chair, holding a ball or stick in front of your body and while inhaling raising the ball above your head and when exhaling, return with the ball to the center; standing, put your hands in front and inhale deeply through your nose while opening your arms horizontally (like Christ the Redeemer) and blow the air slowly through your mouth as you bring your arms back in front of your body.
The exercises should be performed slowly, without any hurry, and can be repeated about 5 to 10 times. However, the physiotherapist will be able to personally indicate which exercises are most suitable for each situation.
What is respiratory physiotherapy for?
This type of physiotherapy serves to improve the supply of oxygen to the entire body. The goal will always be to release the airways from secretions and increase the lung's ventilatory capacity, which can be useful after cardiac, thoracic or abdominal surgery to prevent pneumonia and atelectasis, for example.
Some specific examples of the performance of cardiorespiratory physiotherapy are:
1. Respiratory physiotherapy in pediatrics
Respiratory physiotherapy can be performed during childhood within pediatrics and neonatology, whenever necessary, as children are also susceptible to the appearance of diseases such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis and respiratory physiotherapy may be indicated to treat these and other diseases in order to improve gas exchange and thus facilitate their breathing.
Respiratory physiotherapy in babies is very important, as the respiratory system is still developing, and there may be difficulties in gas exchange. Thus, physiotherapy helps to improve the efficiency of the respiratory process and eliminate secretions. See other alternatives to eliminate baby's secretions.
2. Outpatient respiratory physiotherapy
Outpatient respiratory physiotherapy is that practiced in clinics, with the aim of treating and providing relief from chronic diseases such as asthma and heart-related diseases. Depending on the doctor's guidance, it should be performed once or twice a week indefinitely, until the individual's breathing capacity is normalized.
3. Hospital respiratory physiotherapy
Hospital respiratory physiotherapy is that practiced in hospital rooms when the patient is hospitalized and sometimes bedridden. In this case, motor and respiratory physiotherapy is indicated during his stay, and even if he does not have any respiratory disease, he should do at least 1 daily session of respiratory physiotherapy as a way to prevent the onset of respiratory diseases and improve lung function.
4. Home respiratory physiotherapy
Respiratory physiotherapy performed at home is indicated for people who have been discharged from the hospital but who are still recovering from respiratory disorders or cardiac events, such as a heart attack. This can be performed 1 or 2 times a week, under the guidance of the physiotherapist who works with home care , but the individual should be encouraged to practice respiratory kinesiotherapy exercises daily.
For this, the physiotherapist can use devices that mobilize the secretion, fluidize and facilitate its removal, such as the flutter and nebulizer, and indicate the performance of exercises that stimulate forced breathing.
Check out some nebulization options.
Main benefits of respiratory physiotherapy
The main benefits of respiratory physiotherapy include:
- Improved gas exchange; Greater lung expansion; Release of secretions from the lung and airways; Unobstructed and adequate airway clearance; Decreased hospital stay; Facilitates the arrival of oxygen throughout the body; Combats difficulty in breathing.
Some strategies used to achieve these benefits are postural drainage maneuvers, manual chest pressure, percussion, vibration, vibrocompression, cough facilitation, and upper airway aspiration.
