Chest physiotherapy is described as a process of bronchial hygiene which includes specialized cough technique, vibration, chest percussion, postural drainage and turning. Chest physiotherapy helps the children to remove excess mucus from the lungs. Most often, chest physiotherapy for the children is required when they suffer from lung illness. However, the treatment can be prolonged when the child suffers from chronic lung diseases. Normally, chest physiotherapy consists of two procedures, percussion and positioning or postural drainage. Percussion involves the process of clapping the child on the chest(Levy, 2015). The expected outcome is that when the child is clapped, the chest is shaken and the mucus becomes loose, thus making it easier to be coughed outside. Also, when the position of the baby is changed, mucus which is watery moves from the high position to low position, hence helping to move the mucus from the bottom of the airways to the larger airways which is located in the middle of the lungs.
Studies have shown that it is advisable to carry out chest physiotherapy for the children before the meals. This helps the child to reduce the chance of throwing up or experiencing stomach pains. This means that the appropriate time for performing chest physiotherapy is in the morning because it helps to remove the mucus that have built up over the night. In addition, early in the morning is appropriate because the child has not eaten major meal. It important to note that chest physiotherapy should be conducted by a specialists and experienced person for the purposes of accuracy and effectiveness. Studies have shown that performing chest physiotherapy for the children helps to remove the mucus that blocks on the small airways. In order to assess the outcome of the chest physiotherapy, the specialists uses sputum production. For example, children that produces sputum that is less than 25 ml daily is considered not to be adequately hydrated(van der Schans, 2007). This means that children should be given enough fluids in order to assists for loosening the mucus as well as removing the mucus from high airways to bottom airways which could be coughed off easily.
Another outcome for the chest physiotherapy is that the breathing sound for the children changes. Therefore, for the specialists to determine whether the chest physiotherapy has been effective, it needs to evaluate breathe sound for over some time. When the airways are cleared and more mucus are excreted, the child will have clear breath sound.
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The risks of chest physiotherapy
Although chest physiotherapy helps children’s lungs to function properly and remove excess mucus that blocks the airways, it has some risk. For example, if the baby is subjected to vibration technique, the specialist should seek the help from another person who will hold the child in flattened area. As the child breath in and exhale, the helper should rapidly but gently shake the chest of the child. The risk is that the child does not understand the procedure, therefore, a helper should be there to assist(van der Schans, 2007). The second risk is that when the child is subjected to excess vibrations there is high chances to break the lungs membrane. Therefore, it is important to determine the exact pressure and vibrations which is appropriate for the child. The third risk is that, it is difficult to determine which of the lung has more mucus.
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