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Airway Clearance Therapy

With regular use, airway clearance therapy can reduce hospitalizations and infections due to respiratory conditions. Airway clearance therapy can help you breathe easier.

Certain diseases impair mucus production and cough function in the lungs. Poor mucus movement can obstruct airways and contribute to infection, inflammation, and airway injury.

Someone with airway clearance challenges may struggle with:1

  • Chronic or ineffective cough
  • Recurring chest/lung infections
  • Mucus retention or mucus plugging

If you have any of these symptoms, airway clearance therapy may be for you.

Airway Clearance Therapy Techniques

 

Airway clearance therapy utilizes physical or mechanical means of percussion and vibration to mobilize mucus and phlegm to facilitate airway clearing by coughing.

Chest Physiotherapy

Chest physiotherapy (CPT) involves a clinician or caregiver gently but firmly patting the chest and back to loosen thick mucus in the lungs.

High Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation

High frequency chest wall oscillation (HFCWO) uses a mechanical vest to gently vibrate the chest wall to loosen mucus.

Coughing & Huffing

Coughing is one of the easiest airway clearance techniques. It helps release mucus from the lungs and into the airways for clearing.

Positive Expiratory Pressure

Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) therapy uses a mask or mouthpiece attached to a resistor that holds the airways open to breath in and out against the resistance.

Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure

Oscillating PEP  is where a person blows out many times through a device to vibrate the large and small airways to dislodge mucus.

Active Cycle of Breathing Technique

ACBT therapy includes controlled breathing, chest expansion exercises and forced coughing to get air behind the mucus to force it out.

To learn more about airway clearance therapy visit https://impact-be.com/.

What is High Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation?

High‑frequency chest wall oscillation (HFCWO) is an airway clearance therapy that uses gentle vibrations on the chest to help loosen and clear mucus from the lungs. HFCWO vest therapy has been shown to improve lung function and quality of life, while reducing symptoms, hospitalizations, emergency visits, and antibiotic use.2,3 Traditional manual chest physiotherapy (CPT) must be performed by a caregiver or clinician and depends heavily on proper technique.

AffloVest® HFCWO offers a different approach:

  • Can be used independently by most patients, at home or on the go
  • Uses gentle, targeted vibration—not shaking or squeezing
  • Requires no special positioning and fits easily into everyday spaces

Request a Complimentary Resource Kit

1. Nicolini, A. et al., Effectiveness of treatment with high-frequency chest wall oscillation in patients with bronchiectasis. BMC Pulmonary Medicine. 2013;13:21.
2. Therapeutic Advanced Respiratory Disease. Real-life experience with high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest therapy in adults with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. Barto. 2020.
3. Barto T, et al. Real-life experience with high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest therapy in adults with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. Ther Adv Respir Dis. 2020.