Prospects for the use of respiratory exercisers in patients with traumatic injuries

Chest injuries sustained during armed conflict have a high mortality rate and are accompanied by pulmonary dysfunction. Pulmonary contusion is manifested by rupture of pulmonary parenchyma, atelectasis, and hemorrhages in pulmonary parenchyma. The treatment strategy for such patients includes anesthesia, management of acute respiratory failure, treatment of infectious complications, sanation of airways, and rehabilitation measures. One of the goals of such interventions is the elimination of respiratory biomechanics disorders. It is recommended to use respiratory exercisers with a threshold level of resistance for the process of inhalation and exhalation to train respiratory muscles. At the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after N.N. Burdenko the possibility of application of the respiratory simulator "Universal-2011" as a therapeutic physical training tool in the hospital phase of treatment of patients with thoracic trauma was studied. The efficacy of the carried activities was evaluated by functional tests of tolerance to hyper- and hypocapnia of Stange and Gench and the assessment of thoracic cage excursion. The experience of using a respiratory exerciser was observed to be positive. All 25 patients fulfilled the planned program with the achievement of improvement of external respiratory function and exercise tolerance.