How is your breathing? ——Defeat the sequelae of COVID-19, practice respiratory rehabilitation at home

Hey! Hello, everyone~ First of all, let us warmly celebrate that the three-year "war" has finally come to a successful conclusion~ During these three long years, we were like living in a "biochemical crisis", living a life of hardship every day.

This kind of life will continue until June 2022, when society is fully open and everyone takes off their masks to embrace nature. Just like that... the whole nation is "sheep"... Life in the "sheep pen" is not easy. All kinds of symptoms come to us, including "cement sealing the nose", "knife cutting the throat", and "craniotomy without anesthesia". After about 7-14 days of the long "road to negative", we use muscle memory to remember the ten major symptoms of the new crown: fever, dry cough, fatigue, sore throat, myalgia, nasal congestion, diarrhea, runny nose, conjunctivitis, and loss or loss of taste and smell.

As time goes by, we all return to the state of "little Yin people", thinking that we can finally go out and "surf" without restraint. However, after the national Yangkang, everyone has more or less some mild or severe breathing problems, which makes us not have fun, can't support the physical strength, and often feel weak and have a rapid heartbeat. So what should we do in the face of these sequelae? Next, let me take you into the world of respiratory rehabilitation~

In the development history of respiratory rehabilitation in our great China, the most important turning point should be the "new crown defense war" that lingers in our minds. The vision of rehabilitation medicine has rapidly expanded from neurological rehabilitation, bone and joint rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation, children's rehabilitation, etc. to respiratory (lung) rehabilitation. In the past, the iconic content of respiratory rehabilitation focused on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but now the rehabilitation of infectious and restrictive lung diseases represented by new coronary pneumonia is attracting great attention. Today, respiratory rehabilitation is gradually entering our field of vision. Respiratory rehabilitation not only involves the rehabilitation of obstructive pulmonary disease and restrictive lung disease, but also touches on rehabilitation after lung transplantation, critical care rehabilitation, respiratory rehabilitation for patients with non-respiratory diseases (spinal cord injury, stroke, tumors, etc.), and new concepts, new technologies and new therapies of respiratory rehabilitation are coming into everyone's field of vision.

So which groups of people need respiratory rehabilitation?

In this "final battle" against the epidemic, various medical institutions have responded to the national call and opened COVID-19 rehabilitation clinics to carry out COVID-19 rehabilitation diagnosis and treatment for patients during and after COVID-19. Our common COVID-19 sequelae include chest tightness, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, fatigue, muscle aches, physical weakness, coughing and sputum problems, etc. All of the above people need respiratory rehabilitation~

So what is respiratory rehabilitation?

Respiratory rehabilitation is a comprehensive training. It will develop a personalized treatment plan for each cute child with different degrees of respiratory impairment, mainly using non-drug means to achieve gradual or partial recovery of respiratory function. After a comprehensive evaluation by the doctor, training methods are developed for the cute children with respiratory problems in terms of function, quality of life, posture management, home management, etc., including respiratory training, posture management methods to relieve shortness of breath, physical factor therapy, exercise therapy, cultural and sports training, improvement of daily living activities, psychological counseling, drug guidance, and long-term home management.

What are some respiratory rehabilitation techniques that we can practice at home? How to implement them?

Postural management methods to relieve shortness of breath

As the name implies, the postural management method to relieve shortness of breath is the postural management method that needs to be done when you feel shortness of breath. This method can help you breathe more easily when you are short of breath. In addition, you should remember that it is normal to have shortness of breath after exerting physical effort (such as climbing a mountain or stairs). If you have shortness of breath in a calm state, you must try this method. After it is relieved, you must seek medical attention in time. Then let's take a look at the specific postural management methods.

Active cycle of breath technique (ACBT) for airway clearance

Active breathing cycle technique is mainly divided into three movements, namely breathing control, chest expansion exercise and forceful exhalation technique. Breathing control can help friends relax tense respiratory muscles and avoid airway spasm, which provides a good foundation for the following two movements~ Chest expansion exercise has the effect of loosening secretions, helping the small airway to loosen sputum, and then quickly expel foreign matter by forceful exhalation and coughing. If friends are not proficient at the beginning, they can practice according to the following diagram~

Breathing exercises

Hey~Everybody~According to the recommendation of the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association, breathing exercises can improve lung function and strengthen our body by combining breathing and exercise. Come and move with me~

In addition, for those who have lung inflammation, we can do some physical factor treatment, which is what we usually call physical therapy. Microwaves are a very good choice, painless and anti-inflammatory, with only a slight feeling of heat. Its principle is very intuitive, and it is a therapeutic effect achieved by the thermal effect produced by microwave radio waves. When the lungs are invaded by inflammation, the trachea and bronchi of the lungs will become inflamed, and the amount of sputum will also increase. At this time, using microwaves to irradiate the inflamed area can decompose the inflamed area. It has been personally tested and it is a very useful physical therapy.

So what is the timing and strategy for respiratory rehabilitation after we recover?

Pay attention! Let's talk about some serious stuff.

According to the "Respiratory Rehabilitation Program for Patients with Severe New Coronavirus Pneumonia" issued by the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association, it is proposed to strengthen early rehabilitation training for critically ill patients on the basis of standardized clinical treatment of severe new coronavirus pneumonia patients.

2. Respiratory rehabilitation for severe and critical patients requires strengthening the respiratory management of severe patients on the basis of ensuring that the patient's condition is sufficiently stable, ensuring that the chest is in a state that is easy to expand, and that high-quality exhalation and ventilation can be completed to reduce the scope of atelectasis.

Emphasize the use of energy-saving techniques. Energy-saving techniques are to teach patients to save energy in daily life, so that patients can carry out activities in a more relaxed and smoother breathing state, and minimize or even prevent shortness of breath.

Aerobic training recommends slow walking, stair climbing exercises, etc., which can improve the patient's aerobic exercise capacity. It is recommended to train 3 to 5 times a week, with an initial training time of 10 to 15 minutes, and then gradually increase to 30 to 60 minutes.

Breathing training can be performed at any time when the discomfort symptoms are stable. When performing breathing training, abdominal breathing and deep breathing are preferred, both of which need to be performed in conjunction with changes in body position. It is recommended to perform 10 to 15 times per round, 2 rounds per day.

Three years have passed in a flash from 2020 to 2022. An epidemic has trapped us in a prison where we cannot breathe freely. Breathing freely, a trivial matter that we usually ignore, has suddenly become a luxury. Today, the new crown is far away from us, but the sequelae it left behind are endless. Some friends have passed away because of it, some friends are deeply affected by coughing and sputum problems, and some friends used to be so strong that they could kill a tiger, but now they can hardly step on an ant to death. Fortunately, the rapid development of domestic medicine has built a solid wall of protection for us. Now there are abundant medical resources for us to realize various rehabilitation modes such as new crown outpatient, hospitalization and home rehabilitation. We can finally run to nature freely and freely with the sharp blade of "respiratory rehabilitation" in hand~

Finally, let us shout together, "Go to COVID-19, we can finally breathe freely~"