Massage for Diseases of the Respiratory System

Massage for diseases of the respiratory system can be an effective addition to complex treatment, including drug therapy and physical therapy. Such diseases include bronchitis, pneumonia, laryngitis, tracheitis, pleurisy and others.

Massage is especially important for pneumonia, which often causes weakening of the respiratory muscles and impaired blood and lymph circulation in the lungs. Massage for this disease is carried out at the final stage of treatment to eliminate residual effects of the disease. It helps improve the patient's general condition, strengthen the respiratory muscles and increase blood and lymph circulation in the lungs.

Massage for pneumonia is carried out in several stages. First, the front surface of the chest is massaged, then the back, neck and again the front surface of the chest. Let's look at each stage in more detail.

Massage of the anterior surface of the chest begins with stroking from the bottom up to the axillary lymph nodes, then squeezing (excluding the mammary gland in women and the nipple area in men). This is followed by kneading the pectoralis major muscle, which can be ordinary, double circular, phalanges of bent fingers or circular beak-shaped. After this, shaking, stroking and kneading of the intercostal spaces is carried out, which can be straight with the pads of the fingers (alternately), straight with the pads of the four fingers, circular with the pads of the four fingers, straight with the pads of the thumb or zigzag with the pads of the thumb. This stage ends with rubbing the sternum and rubbing the collarbone and its attachment points.

A back massage begins with stroking the entire surface of the back, then squeezing. This is followed by a kneading of the long back muscles, which can be a thumb kneader, a four finger kneader, a “pincer” kneader, or a thumb kneader kneader. Then the latissimus dorsi muscles are kneaded, which can be a regular, double bar, double ring or circular phalanges of bent fingers. Finally, the area between the spine, scapula and suprascapular region is kneaded, which can be straight-line phalanges of bent fingers or circular beak-shaped.

After the back massage, you should repeat the massage of the anterior surface of the chest described above.

It is important to remember that massage for diseases of the respiratory system should be carried out only after consultation with a doctor and medical prescription. Improper massage can worsen the patient's condition and lead to complications. In addition, massage should not be performed at high temperatures, bleeding, acute inflammatory processes and other contraindications that can only be determined by a doctor.