Respiratory Physiotherapy

We offer respiratory physiotherapy at your home to help you clear your lungs of sputum after an infection and help you breathe better. We will help you control your breathlessness with some tried and tested techniques and the right advice on helpful positions to regain your breath. It is common to become anxious and lose your confidence after an episode of shortness of breath, as your lungs struggle to cope with chest infections, pneumonia or after an asthma attack. We will support and encourage you to remain independent by teaching you pacing exercises and suggest some adaptive equipment to lighten the demand of your daily tasks and activities.

You may be incapacitated in bed and be on antibiotics with a heavy cough. We can come and perform chest clearing physiotherapy in bed and help move the sputum in the bottom of your lungs so that you can cough it up. These techniques are manual and require some firm but supportive hands-on techniques. People find them very beneficial as it is very effective, helping you catch your breath again and reduce the need to cough and waste energy in doing so. We use a simple device called an incentive spirometer that has a mouth tube connected to a plastic box with some plastic balls in. As you breathe in and hold, the balls rise for as long as you can take a big sustained breath. This mini game helps you get the air to the bottom of your lungs and inflate the lung fully, protecting it from collapsing and moving the sputum to the larger airways where they can be cleared with a cough.

We also teach relaxation breathing techniques to help you breathe in a more efficient way. Often when we are short of breath due to a chest infection, we can get very anxious. As we become anxious our breaths can become too fast and too shallow, which makes the shortness of breath worse and we start to panic. We can use pillows to make sure you are relaxed and comfortable, putting the lung in the best position for the air to get into the bottom of your lungs. We will teach you how to use the right muscles to optimise and control your breathing. We use Oxygen monitors to help give you feedback so you feel in control. We also use mental imagery and storytelling to help get you to a relaxing place in your mind, keeping you calm and in control of your breathing.

There is a common association between getting a chest infection and losing your overall muscle strength and independence. If you are very weak and stuck in bed we will endeavor to get you out of bed and into a suitable chair. If you don’t have the right chair to optimise the position of your lungs, then we will refer you to the NHS community Occupational Therapist or make suggestions for you to purchase the right equipment such as a wheelchair or a supportive armchair.

If you have an Oxygen requirement and have home oxygen we will help you manage your daily tasks and help you walk outside with confidence. We understand how scary It must be to rely on Oxygen from a cylinder, but don’t worry we will teach you ways to manage and not let this stop you doing some of things you want to. It is very likely that your condition will have physical limitations but there is still a lot you can do independently. With our help we can try things together so that you maintain as much independence as possible.

 Lung cancer | Chest infection | Pneumonia | Bronchitis | COPD | Asthma
Pulmonary Fibrosis | Emphysema | Broken ribs or other chest trauma | Covid 19