What is postural drainage?

Postural drainage is a way to help treat respiratory problems due to inflammation and excess mucus in the airways of the lungs. Postural drainage basically “use(s) gravity to drain mucus out of your lungs by changing positions”.1

If you show signs of coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), there can be lethal damage from effusions (mucus filling your lungs) or your body may over-react with more mucus. Unfortunately, this can be life threatening.

Don’t risk unnecessary suffering, take action.

Postural Drainage Techniques

Physical Therapists have successfully treated effusions with postural drainage. With simple tilted positions of the body, mucus flows down and out, so that the patient can easily cough it out.

There are 4 postural drainage techniques that you can try at home. You can perform them lying on your stomach or your sides over exercise balls, pillows or chairs.

1. On a chair

You just need a chair to try this posture. Choose a flat surface, such as the floor or the bed. Lean forward over the back of a chair at an angle of 30 degrees. Extend your legs back to support your body. Rest your elbows on the bed and fold in your arms. 

Hold this posture for around five minutes to aid in mucus drainage from the posterior segment of the lungs. Inhale deeply through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Physical therapists recommend practicing postural drainage in an empty stomach to prevent nausea or vomiting.  

2. On a wedge pillow

Try this technique on the bed or on a flat surface. Lie on your stomach over a wedge pillow or a bean bag and tilt your body forward such that the hips are at a higher level than the chest. Extend your legs back for support. Keep your knees off the bed. Fold your arms under a pillow and rest your head on it. 

This posture raises the lower back portion of the lungs and helps to drain out the effusion from that part. For maximum efficiency, the position must be held for 5 minutes. Take deep breaths and exhale fully keeping your cheeks puffy. Talk to your physical therapist to rule out risks of accidental injuries to the neck or back. 

4 DIY Postural drainage techniques to try at home

3. On an exercise ball

You can also choose an exercise ball to expel mucus from your lungs. Place the ball on the floor or on an exercise mat. Lie on your stomach over the exercise ball and get into a slanting position with your head and chest positioned lower than your hips. Touch the mat or the floor with your head and rest your toes on it for additional support. 

With your torso following the curve of the exercise ball, your lungs are tilted forward. Mucus travels out of the lungs, unclogging the airway. The effusion can then be either coughed out or removed by suctioning. You should respire deeply to make the draining more effective. To get rid of the mucus that builds up in your lungs at night, the drainage is best performed in the morning.  

4. Lying on your side

This technique requires you to lie on your side instead of your stomach. Your hips should be higher than your chest. To do this, place pillows under your hips. This posture tilts your lungs and gravity moves the mucus out. If you want to empty the lower part of your left lung, lie on your right side. Put your right arm around your waist and rest your left arm beside your head. Similarly, lie on your left side if you want to clear out the mucus from the lower part of your right lung and place your hands accordingly.

This posture can be practiced for three to five minutes after you get up in the morning. To prevent waking up at night due to lung congestion, lie down in this posture before going to bed. However, you should wait for at least two hours after a meal before attempting this technique.

Tips When Practicing Postural Drainage Techniques at Home

When practicing these techniques try to:

1. Emphasize full breaths while puffing your cheeks out.
2. Blow long & steady breaths.
3. Use this techniques 3-5 minutes per day.
4. You can use pillows, a chair, or lie over an exercise ball.

Because each person’s health needs are different, you should talk with your doctor when using this information. If you have an emergency, please call 911.

The post 4 Postural Drainage Techniques to Try at Home appeared first on XO Physical Therapy.

can add strain and discomfort to even basic tasks, like lying down or sitting. Let us demonstrate how to relieve that infamous back pain, so you can continue glowing!

Transcript:

-My name is Maiela, I’m a physical therapist,
-And I’m Tracy, also a physical therapist here at McAllen clinic. and this is (inaudible), she is here because this is her third week pregnancy. Right now she’s experiencing some pain. She did it with her first two pregnancies, that we’re going to show her some tips and tricks to help her pregnancy be a little more comfortable.

I have a suggestion that might help you manage your pain a little bit, when you’re not here, in therapy. That’s with use of a maternity support belt. you can go online, and I think we order this one for under $20 so it’s very cost-effective and she really help you with her pain.

This is the first step. on your back go ahead, and hold this right here. This panel is going to go right under the belly, and you’re going to attach it to the velcro straps that you have here. This strap right here, what you can do is, adjust it, to the tightness that you feel most comfortable. hold on to that there. and if you want to adjust it, you can go ahead and tighten it a little bit.

Now this strap here is going to go on top of the belly. so this is just to kind of lift it a little bit and take off some of that pressure in the lower part of your pelvis here. It has nice little velcro straps.

So nice and comfy. SO give it a little tug and attach it to the side.

This particular model we ordered online and it was less than $20, so very cost-effective. Today it hurts, tomorrow it works.

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Transcript:

Hello everyone, I’m Maiela and this is Laura. you may remember her from one of our last videos where she was a few months pregnant. but now she’s got this little guy. Before, when she was pregnant, she was having a little bit of back pain, and from time to time, even though she’s already had a baby, she still gets a little back pain here and there.

We want to show you today are three really good exercises to help tighten everything up after the baby, and help eliminate any back pain that you might have been having postpartum.

The first exercise we’re going to show you is called ta activation, TA stands for the transverse abdominis, that’s just a fancy name for your ab muscles here. The best position to do this exercise is laying flat on your back, with your knees bent, and what you want to do is put your hands on your belly here, this is going to help give you some feedback so that you know if you’re actually contracting those muscles that you should. What you want to do with your hands here, you want to take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, you’re going to tighten your belly muscles. and your hands here will help you feel if you’re actually contracting those muscles there. Good, let’s try that one more time, inhale in and as you exhale and try and hold that for 5 seconds 3 4 5, and relax. Very good. This exercise is an easy one that can be done laying on the floor, on a yoga mat, or laying on the bed. you can start with 5 Second holds and as you get a little better, increase to 10-30 second holds.

Another exercise that we’re going to show you it’s called the sideline clam exercise. Sideline means you’re lying on your side, and you’re going to be working the muscle that’s on the top tier. Laura is in a good position here. ankles together, knees bent, knees together, and to start this exercise, you want to make sure that your hips are in the right place, by doing that you want to make sure you have a good line from your shoulder to your hip, to your ankle here.

Everything has to be in line. If the hips are too far forward, or too far back, then you’re not in a good starting position. Once you get that really good starting position, you have your bottom half, nice and relaxed, your top hands on your side here, just relax, there, resting. What you want to do, this is going to work the glutes. You’re going to keep your ankles together. Lift up the top knee, and you’re going to feel right here on the side of those glute muscles contracting, and go ahead and bring down, good.

You can start with sets of 10, and each set that you do, you want to hold for at least 3 seconds. Go ahead and bring it up. Holds 1, 2, 3, and slowly lower it down. What you want to avoid, is also going too fast. If you start kind of flapping the legs like this, you’re not really working the muscle properly. Okay. Again, this is called the sideline clam exercise to help strengthen up the hips, the glutes, and the back.

Another exercise that we’re going to show you, it’s called quad leg extension. I’m going to show Laura how to get into the position for this exercise. Quad is short for quadrupeds, and what that means is, on all fours and on your hands and knees. Go ahead Laura.

For this exercise I recommend doing it, either on the floor, if you have a yoga mat, or on a soft mat like this, if you have one of these at home. Now that Laura is in the proper starting position, you want to make sure that your back is straight, and that your hips and your knees are in line. Move back, just a little bit here. Hands are shoulder width apart and you have a good stable base. From here what you’re going to do is start with one leg, and then the other. We’ll start with your left leg here Laura. You want to stabilize the back. Use the core muscles, and extend the leg here. She’s got nice long legs, and then slowly brings it back. Key things to remember here, is to keep your back straight, keep your hips in line. You want to avoid any swing here. Let’s do the right, here. good. She’s engaging the back muscles, engaging the core muscles, and also the glutes here. And then slowly bring it back. This exercise can be done in three sets of 10, with 5 second holds, and then as you get a little more comfortable with this exercise, you can always increase the number of reps, and increase the seconds, on the hold there. This is a quadruped leg extension exercise.

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