Postural drainage: variability of patients' responses.
Assessing the benefit of postural drainage (PD) by pulmonary function (PF) tests is complicated by variable responses of patients. Examples of subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are presented to emphasize: (1) the need for knowing whether a patient is already receiving PD treatment prior to pulmonary function testing (PFT), (2) measuring PF for several days concurrently with PD, and (3) the pitfalls of conclusions reached with a single-day assessment of PF before and after PD. Patients requiring substantially higher doses of medication were also those whose PF deteriorated with PD. Serial opinions of patients as to whether PD affected their ease of breathing proved a valuable indicator of actual PF changes. However, single-day determinations may give spuriously positive results.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004322:Drainage / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests