Respiratory techniques
Resistant breathing is a technique that provides resistance during exhalation and helps to open up the patient’s airways and lungs and provide cleaner airways, which can indirectly help the patient’s breathing. Resistant breathing is called PEP, which stands for Positive Expiratory Pressure. The resistance can be created by the lips or with various tools with a nozzle [11,12,15-20].
Huffing / shock is a technique to eliminate mucus through forced exhalation and thus facilitate breathing [17].
CPAP means that a positive airway pressure in the airways is maintained throughout the respiratory cycle. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or continuous positive airway pressure, the same pressure on inhalation and exhalation. The air pressure is maintained with the help of a breathing apparatus that gives the patient air via different types of nasal mask. CPAP is commonly used to counteract atelectasis, treat secretory problems, treat pulmonary edema and counteract obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). There are also other forms of ventilation that work with several pressures, so-called BilevelPAP [15-17].
Resistance breathing
Resistance during exhalation can be created with the help of various tools such as a breathing bottle (PEP bottle), PEP set or PEP mask. There are a number of different models of PEP sets. By choosing PEP resistance, the treatment can be adapted to each individual. Studies have shown beneficial effects regarding, for example, reduced postoperative respiratory complications [6,11,12,17-20].
Tell the patient about the treatment and explain what effects it has.
Effects of resistance breathing
- Increases the pressure in the lung.
- Opens the airways.
- Prevents premature closure of the small airways
- Counteracts atelectasis (collapsed alveoli).
- Leads to reduced respiratory rate.
- Facilitates secret furnishing.
- Increases FRC (Functional Residual Capacity). The effect depends on how the patient has
- been instructed to breathe, which in turn depends on the purpose of the treatment. A
- ventilator, invasive or non-invasive, can increase FRC through an increased exhalation
- pressure, but then also has an increased inhalation pressure, which also helps the patient to ventilate with a so-called ventilating pressure [18-20].