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Physiotherapy for bronchitis
Last reviewed: 07.07.2025

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Bronchitis is a disease manifested by acute inflammation of the mucous membrane of the tracheobronchial tree. Therefore, all physiotherapeutic effects should be pathogenetic, primarily anti-inflammatory. As a rule, such patients are not hospitalized, and complex treatment of uncomplicated acute bronchitis is carried out at home with the participation and under the supervision of a doctor.
For this pathology, the optimal methods of physiotherapy at home include warm-alkaline inhalations, medicinal electrophoresis, laser (magnetic laser) therapy, as well as information-wave exposure. I
For inhalations at home using devices such as PI-2 (portable inhaler) and its analogues, warm solutions (38 - 40 °C) of the following composition are used:
- sodium hydrogen carbonate or bicarbonate - 2 ml and distilled or boiled water - 100 ml;
- sodium hydrogen carbonate or bicarbonate - 1 ml; sodium chloride - 1 ml and distilled or boiled water - 100 ml.
The procedure lasts 10 minutes, they are carried out 2-3 times a day, the course of treatment is 7-10 procedures.
In the absence of special inhalers, the following method is simple and convenient at home. Rinse the teapot and then pour boiling water over it. Throw 2 tablets (not capsules) of validol into the boiling water. After they dissolve, inhale the steam through an improvised funnel made of cardboard or thick paper, placed over the opening of the teapot instead of a lid.
For medicinal electrophoresis at home, it is advisable to use a portable device with an autonomous power supply "Elfor-I" ("Elfor™"). The method of action is contact, stable, transverse (the active electrode, from which the medicinal substance is administered, is placed on the middle part of the sternum, the indifferent electrode is on the interscapular region of the spine). The dimensions of the electrodes are 10x15 mm, the current strength is 5 mA, the duration of action is 10-15 minutes, 1 time per day in the morning (before 12 noon), the course of treatment is 5 daily procedures.
Of the medications for severe cough, a 0.1-1% solution of dionine, introduced from the anode (+), is used for electrophoresis; as a desensitizing agent, electrophoresis of a 2% solution of calcium chloride, also introduced from the anode (+), is used.
Laser (magnetolaser) therapy is performed using devices generating IR radiation (wavelength 0.8 - 0.9 μm). Optimal use of laser therapeutic devices in continuous mode of radiation generation with the possibility of modulating the NLI frequency of 10 and 80 Hz, preferably with a matrix emitter for a larger area of simultaneous action. The frequency of 80 Hz has an anti-inflammatory effect, 10 Hz promotes activation of movements of the ciliated epithelium of the bronchi. Induction of the magnetic nozzle is 20 - 50 mT. The possibility of using devices generating NLI in continuous radiation mode is not excluded.
Laser (magnetolaser) exposure is performed on the naked surface of the body. The technique is contact, stable. Three fields are irradiated: - on the area of the middle third of the sternum; II - on the interscapular region of the spine along the line of the spinous processes of the vertebrae with a matrix emitter (using devices with an irradiation area of about 1 cm2 - two fields paravertebrally on the right and left in the middle of the interscapular region); III - the area of the jugular fossa above the sternum.
The optimal PPM of NLI is 5-10 mW/cm2. If frequency modulation of NLI is possible, the first 3 procedures are carried out at a frequency of 80 Hz, the following ones - at a frequency of 10 Hz. Exposure in continuous radiation mode is also effective. The duration of exposure to one field is 5 minutes, 1 time per day in the morning hours (before 12 noon), for a course of treatment 7-10 daily procedures.
Instead of laser (magnetic laser) therapy, it is possible to conduct information-wave exposure using the Azor-IK device using methods similar to low-energy laser irradiation. However, the exposure time per field is increased to 20 minutes, since the synthesis of the corresponding information from the exposure requires a corresponding time interval.
It is possible to carry out procedures sequentially on the same day for acute bronchitis (the interval between procedures is at least 30 minutes):
- inhalation + medicinal electrophoresis;
- inhalation + laser (magnetic laser) therapy;
- inhalation + information-wave exposure using the Azor-IK device.
With adequate treatment, the disease usually ends in complete recovery and subsequent rehabilitation measures are not required.
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