8 patients with copious sputum production (mean: 44 g/day)
Interventions
percussion, vibratory-shaking and breathing exercises
Outcome measures
Tracheobronchial clearance, dry sputum
Main results
Tracheobronchial clearance was unaffected by the addition of either vibratory-shaking or percussion with and without breathing exercises to postural drainage. There was however a significant (p less than 0.01) increase in the dry weight of sputum produced during each of these treatments. The combination of postural drainage used in conjunction with the forced expiration technique is responsible for the majority of mucus mobilisation and should form the basis of routine chest physiotherapy programmes; the other modes appear to be of lesser value.