Let us understand what is there in Physiotherapy that predominantly can help us during COVID times and why. Respiratory functions mainly include maintenance of the oxygen intake in the body and protecting the body by filtering harmful foreign particles that exist in the air we inhale; thus, these two points are crucial in COVID-19 patients to focus on.
Physiotherapy provides various exercises to enhance the strength of breathing and improve the lung's capacity. Let’s discuss the easy ones:
- Hold and Relax:
Breathe in slowly as much as you can. Hold the breath and count in mind (1…2…3…). Then, exhale slowly. Again, Hold and do not breathe in with count in mind (1…2…3…)
- Rhythmic Breathing:
Breathe in slowly with the count in mind (1…2…3…) and without Hold, breathe out with continuous flow with the count in mind (1…2…3…).
- Abdominal Awareness:
Place both hands on the abdominal area without any pressure. Breaths in and out slowly, observe the minute movements of the abdominal muscles.
- Chest Awareness: Place hands opposite side by side of the underarms and side of the chest. Breathe in and out with observation of movements of the chest and try to inflate the chest maximum each time.
- Shoulder Awareness: Place opposite hands on each side of the shoulder blade and observe elevation and depression movements of the shoulder muscles with each inhalation-exhalation. Try to increase the airflow during each breath in and out.
- Balloon Exercise: Breathe at maximum and exhale to inflate the small balloon slowly and hold the air after each breath out in the balloon. Then, hold the balloon to stop the air coming back from it and breathe in slowly through the nose.
- Pursed Lip Breathing: inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth with lips in fish or pout shape open. When medical condition demands, pursed-lip breathing can be increased in frequency. This helps in maintaining the expansion capacity of lung alveoli and helps in preventing further damage to lung cells which are responsible for inhaling more air.
All the above exercises should be done by starting with 2 repetitions and slowly increasing up to 10 repetitions twice a day.
These 7 easy techniques can be done under the ‘Tele consultation’ with any clinical physiotherapist for mild cases of COVID-19 or even for the post Covid19 rehabilitation. People can perform it to improve their breathing capacity and enhance the oxygen intake in the body for the prevention of Covid19 infection or any other flu.
Also Read: 3 Exercises To Tighten Pelvic Floor In Women
Why should we do these?
- Improves breathing by working on lung capacity.
- Accelerates the oxygen saturation in the body.
- Exercises for respiratory muscles can strengthen the lung muscles.
- Provide the rhythm and synchronization to the inhale-exhale ratio.
- Enhance the control over-breathing.
- Maintain adequate blood circulation in and around the lungs.
- Helps to deal with mental stress.
For your queries, contact Dr. Janhvi Kathrani at jk.swasthya108@gmail.com
