BREATHING Techniques for CORONAVIRUS

Important Breathing Techniques for Coronavirus

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We want to strengthen our lungs before we get sick. When we get sick, we tend to lie down on our backs, which is not good for Coronavirus as it can get into your lungs and make your lungs weaker. The bottom part of your lungs can collapse if the virus gets in there which will cause more inflammation and worsen things much quicker, which is called ACTELECTASIS

Lungs work in the back part of our bodies.

  1. You have to get up and move - Walk around.

  2. Expand the lungs - Breathing techniques.  

  3. Hydrate - Virus do not live well in a hydrated body.

Techniques to aid recovery from a respiratory infection like Covid 19

Lay on tummy prone as laying on bank lungs collapse, restricted breathing 

Self Proning - Laying on tummy, increases the oxygen saturation in the blood within minutes, if we are on laying on our backs in a Supine position, the lungs collapse and breathing is restricted.

  • Laying prone is done in intensive care to maximise chance of recovery 

  • Breathing exercises can make your lungs more efficient 

    When you breathe efficiently, your diaphragm does about 80% of the work to move oxygen and other gases in and out of your lungs. When you have had an illness like Covid 19, your lungs lose some of their springiness meaning they don’t take oxygen in or let waste gases out as effectively, and air gets trapped in our lungs

    .Over time, the diaphragm works less effectively and we get less well oxygenated air into our lungs. We start to use other muscles around our neck and shoulders to help get more air in. Using these other muscles leads to several problems – lower oxygen levels generally and less air getting to the bases of our lungs where the lung volume is greatest. When the air fails to reach the bases of our lungs, the alveoli, the small air sacks where the lungs and blood stream exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, deflate and collapse, a condition known as atelectasis.