No Mucus? Daily Airway Clearance is Still Important with Bronchiectasis

This week we are focusing on the third letter in the BE CLEAR acronym - “C”- for Clearance of Airways. 

Dr. Steven Lommatzsch from National Jewish Health says there are three pillars of bronchiectasis: airway clearance, airway clearance, airway clearance. If you are outside the U.S. you might call it physio, but regardless, it’s critical to managing bronchiectasis. 

I know from personal experience how good I feel when my lungs are clear. I also know how I might get a low-grade fever and feel unwell when I have gone too long without clearing my lung secretions.

It’s not just National Jewish Health doctors who promote airway clearance, it’s bronchiectasis specialists all over the world. Most bronchiectasis guidelines recommend airway clearance be taught by a respiratory care professional and be done daily.

Is there a lot of research to support this recommendation? No. But Dr. James D. Chalmers from the University of Dundee in Scotland, one of the top BE specialists in the world, said he doesn’t need a randomized control trial to know jumping out of an airplane without a parachute is a bad idea and he does not need randomized controlled trials to tell him that doing physio is a good idea.

Do you think you don’t need to clear your airways because you cough up lots of mucus? Or, perhaps you think you do not have mucus and it is a waste of time to do airway clearance. Well, you might want to listen to Dr. Leigh Anne Daniels, a specialist at the University of North Carolina, address those positions. 

Youtu.be/rYjWNP9xjfU

Do you have time to listen to an in-depth discussion on airway clearance? Dr Pamela McShane from the University of Texas at Tyler gave a wonderful talk. 

Youtu.be/L-EHohMe7II
​

My book, “The BE CLEAR Method to Living with Bronchiectasis”can be purchased on Amazon!

 https://amzn.to/3yv0VQh 

#bronchiectasis #ntmpulmonarydisease #maclungdisease #airwayclearance #lindaesposito