Alternative Airway Clearance Techniques in Healthy Adults: A Normative Database

Abstract

Description

Purpose To create a normative database of 160 participants across a variety of commonly used airway clearance behaviours in healthy adults. This is the beginning phase of a larger project that aims to explore airway clearance behaviours in patients with neuromuscular diseases and conditions. As part of the project, Speech-Language Pathology students did an extensive literature review and are participating in some data collection and analysis. Methods & Analysis Spirometry measures of coughing, throat clearing, hawking, sniff nasal pressure and forced expiration were conducted on healthy age-matched individuals. Normative data is presented in terms of means and standard deviations to help guide selection and timing of appropriate airway clearance interventions. Clinical Significance The normative database may serve as a reference point for assisting with diagnosis and future research in this area. This project has the potential to make significant contributions to the clinical management of patients with weak cough due to a variety of neuromuscular diseases.

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http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_93fc

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en

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