MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 1  Back pain - returning to work. 2  Back pain and sports. 3  Compression fractures of the back. 4  Lifting and bending the right way. 5  Lumbosacral spine x-ray. 6  Returning to sports after a back injury. 7  Spinal fusion. 8  Spinal fusion - slideshow. 9  Vertebroplasty - slideshow.
The mucociliary escalator is one of the major defense mechanisms, which protect the lung, and if the mucociliary escalator fails, it increases the risk that the normal and potentially pathogenic, inhabitants of the nose, throat and the back of the mouth, will descend into the lung, resulting in a potentially life-threatening pneumonia ( Anatomy and Physiology, 2013, p. 139).
Impaired mucociliary clearance is linked to poor lung function in a broad range of diseases and disabilities. Pulmonary hygiene prevents atelectasis (the collapse of the alveoli of the lungs) and rids the respiratory system of secretions, which could cause respiratory infections.It can also decrease pulmonary shunting, increase the functional reserve capacity of the lungs, and prevent respiratory infection after chest trauma.ronchoscopy, in which a tube is inserted into the airways so that an examiner can view them, can be used therapeutically as part of pulmonary hygiene. Incentive spirometry and use of analgesics (pain medications) that do not inhibit breathing are also parts of pulmonary toilet.