The Benefits of an Incentive Spirometer

When people take account of necessities, they often consider things such as food, clean water, shelter. Of course, many may overlook the single most important necessity to the human body, the one whose absence renders all others moot: air. An incentive spirometer measures the intake potential of lungs and opens the airways. To those who need it, the incentive spirometer is indispensable.

Deep Breathing

• The use of an incentive spirometer forces the user to breathe deeply. This causes the alveoli, the small air sacs deep in your lungs, to fully expand. This region of the lungs is where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place between the blood and air. Full expansion of this area allows for better oxygenation of the blood.

Normal Breathing Patterns

• The incentive spirometer is sometimes instrumental in returning those recovering from surgery or other breathing-restrictive conditions to a normal breathing pattern. Long stays in bed due to surgery or other conditions causes you to take more shallow breaths. The spirometer prompts the deep breaths once more.

Disease Prevention

• The device helps move secretions inside the lungs and opens up areas of the lungs that might have collapsed. This can help you avoid developing pneumonia or atelectasis, a collapse or airlessness of the lung.

Improved Lung Function

• The spirometer improves the lung functions of those who smoke, have breathing problems or lung diseases, or are inactive or immobile. Anyone who normally has difficulty taking a deep breath will benefit from it.