Pneumonia is an insidious and dangerous disease that anyone can suffer from. At the same time, it can be quite difficult to recover. The causes of pneumonia can be very many, as well as the forms of this ailment. At the same time, the treatment itself and recovery after it take a lot of time and include many physiotherapeutic and restorative procedures. Today we’ll talk about the features of the rehabilitation of children after pneumonia.
What is pneumonia
In the people it is called pneumonia, which very accurately reflects its nature. It causes gluing of the alveoli. Of course, this has a devastating effect on the whole organism. Therefore, it is very important not only to effectively cure this ailment, but also to conduct proper rehabilitation. This means a whole range of measures that are aimed at restoring the health and normal function of the respiratory system.
Rehabilitation of pneumonia in children can be quite lengthy. A full course of rehabilitation takes from 3 months to a year. All this time, the child should be constantly monitored by a pediatrician and pulmonologist.
Residual effects
Alarming nights near the bedside of a small patient came to an end, the doctor diagnoses an improvement. But do not confuse recovery. Rehabilitation after pneumonia in children is also needed because this disease takes a very long time. When the condition of the child is leveled, this speaks only of the first steps towards recovery. Now you need to go a rather long way in order to restore the strength of the body.
At the end of pneumonia treatment, destructive changes persist in the body. The most common include:
- Bronchitis.
- Decreased immunity. The body is weakened and susceptible to any bacteria and viruses. Therefore, the immunologist must choose a scheme for strengthening immunity.
- Dysbacteriosis It manifests itself in the form of an imbalance in the intestinal microflora.
- Asthenic syndrome or increased fatigue. Moreover, it affects not only physical, but also mental activity.
Rehabilitation Stages
After pneumonia, children still have weakness for some time, so it is important to rest as much as possible. The body is not yet ready for stress. The stages can be distributed as follows:
- Bed rest. From it begins in children rehabilitation after pneumonia. Komarovsky emphasizes that a hasty transition to ordinary activities and activities you only harm the young body. All that is possible now is a couple of cartoons a day and a bedtime story. This stage is necessary to prevent asthenic syndrome.
- If the temperature no longer rises, then you can begin to perform exercises to stimulate lung function.
- Physiotherapy. When the child gets stronger, and the bed rest can be canceled, then you can proceed to the exercises. Usually they begin with static exercises and, when the body is strengthened, they gradually switch to dynamic ones.
- Massage. A very useful procedure that allows you to improve metabolism, remove the remainder of sputum.
- Breathing training. It can be breathing exercises or regular walks.
The last can be called a free stage. That is, all of the above techniques are saved, the pace of execution and the duration of the exercises increase. We examined the main stages of the rehabilitation of children after pneumonia. This will once again evaluate the magnitude of the task assigned to you.
Long recovery process
You can not count on a quick result. Rehabilitation of children after pneumonia is necessary. This is a rather complicated and lengthy process, which includes the joint work of parents and medical workers. Only in this case can good results be achieved. There is always a great temptation to quickly forget about a disease. But correctly carried out rehabilitation will allow the child to resist at the next meeting with pathogens.
We strengthen immunity
This is the first and most important task, according to Dr. Komarovsky. Rehabilitation in children after pneumonia is aimed primarily at strengthening the body's defenses. It is extremely important that, meeting a new opponent, he could strike back. This task is not so simple, but not the most difficult. Just solving it requires an integrated approach:
- Power optimization. The child needs a complete, balanced diet, rich in vitamins and minerals. This will provide a resource for the regeneration of the body, as well as for the accumulation of forces for defense.
- Go to bed on time and wake up. Necessarily, even if it seems that the baby is completely healthy, he should sleep at night for 8 hours and a half hours in the afternoon.
- Walk more. Rehabilitation does not mean that you have to lock yourself in four walls. As soon as the child feels better, you can begin to go out. The ideal place for walking is the coniferous forest and the sea coast. This is not only pleasure, but also excellent prevention. Rehabilitation after pneumonia in children is best at a beach resort. Therefore, if possible, leave all affairs and go for a walk on the hot sand.
- Ventilate and moisten the room regularly to reduce the amount of germs in the air.
Drug therapy
Treatment of pneumonia often leads to such a complication as dysbiosis. More precisely, it is not the disease itself that is to blame, but those drugs that we have to use to treat it. Often these are strong antibiotics, and sometimes several of their types. Rehabilitation after pneumonia in children involves the use of special medicines that will help the body restore its previous functions:
- To eliminate the symptoms of dysbiosis, use "Linex", "Normobact", "Bifiform" and many others.
- To increase immunity, "Imudon", "Arbidol" are used. And if you do not want to pay more, then choose the usual extract of Echinacea and Eleutherococcus.
During illness and fever, toxins inevitably accumulate in the body. For their excretion, the body requires good nutrition, plenty of water and vitamin complexes. For example, vitamin E does a good job of eliminating toxins. Its reserves can be replenished by eating cabbage, pine nuts, sunflower seeds and almonds, pistachios and peas, dogrose and mountain ash, parsley.
Physiotherapy
Very often used for children. Adults in the office of a physiotherapist are much less likely. Nevertheless, it is an effective tool that prevents the development of inflammatory processes. Especially often resort to these methods when rehabilitation of the child after pneumonia at 3 years, or even a little younger is required. It is very difficult to make a baby gargle or breathe steam, but these procedures can significantly speed up recovery:
- Inhalation with special drugs. For this, nebulizers are most often used.
- UHF
- Ural Federal District. This helps prevent inflammation and the growth of bacteria.
- Magnetic and laser therapy. These methods can improve the blood supply to the lung tissue and improve its regeneration.
- Popular speleotherapy or salt caves can improve respiratory function.
Not all of these procedures are always assigned together. Typically, the pediatrician chooses one or two methods. Sometimes the prescribed procedures can be performed at home. Others, on the contrary, are recommended for implementation only in a rehabilitation center, where the process will be monitored for the correctness of their conduct.
Nutrition during recovery
Rehabilitation after pneumonia in children requires a menu adjustment. Of course, a recovering child should eat. But in the first days you need to save the body's resources. Today they are entirely aimed at combating infection. That is, you need to start cooking you need light broths, cereals or vegetable soups. You need to eat in small portions, every three hours. A few days later, when the child is fully strengthened, the diet is expanded. It includes pasta, cottage cheese and eggs, and then all other products.
Consider the fact that quite serious drugs were prescribed. So, the child must necessarily receive multivitamins, as well as special complexes that will ensure the restoration of microflora. Vitamin A is important and necessary for the body. In this regard, the baby's menu needs to be varied with carrots and yolks, parsley and green onions, apricot and sea buckthorn.
Physiotherapy
Mom is sometimes scared to start classes with a newly ill child. But for this there is a specialized staff. The nursing process in the rehabilitation of children after pneumonia is not only the delivery of the necessary drugs. This is also a special training. Mom will learn during these classes and will gradually be able to take on this function. There is a specially designed complex, which is aimed at the general strengthening of the body and breathing training. It consists of three blocks, in each of which exercises fulfill their function. The duration of the classes is 10-15 minutes. The physical therapy coach or nurse usually demonstrates the complex to parents, after which they can continue to deal with the child on their own.
Breathing exercises
And we continue to consider each individual stage of rehabilitation after pneumonia in children. The classification is rather arbitrary, each doctor can increase or decrease the duration of a stage. But the importance of breathing exercises cannot be underestimated. Proper breathing provides the body with oxygen saturation. This favorably affects the restoration of the structure of the alveoli and bronchi, positively affects the whole body as a whole.
Exercises for breathing exercises are very simple:
- Deep breath and similar exhale.
- Jerking breath.
- Phased breathing. First inhale shallow five times, then take a long breath and a long exhale.
Massage
After gymnastics, he will be very useful. Most children love this procedure. But besides this, massage helps to significantly improve the patient's condition. Every mom knows about drainage massage. A patronage nurse talks about him. The bottom line is as follows. The child needs to be laid so that his head is below body level. That is, a dense roller is useful, which can be placed under the baby’s stomach. Now, gently stroking and tapping, it is possible to cleanse the respiratory system of mucus and restore their normal respiratory function. If you are not confident in your abilities, then you can undergo training from a specialist and master the procedure. Usually, a nurse performs the procedure two to three times, after which the mother herself can do this.
Evaluate the result
Depending on the severity of the disease, the doctor will prescribe the duration of the activities and outline the main stages of rehabilitation after pneumonia. Diagnosis in children is usually prescribed a month after all symptoms of the disease cease to manifest. Usually, a control test of blood, urine, and sometimes sputum is prescribed by this time. An X-ray examination is not prescribed for children, and a Mantoux test is done no earlier than a month after the condition has returned to normal. This is not a vaccine, it will not harm a weakened body, but it will help to eliminate the defeat of the respiratory organs with Koch sticks.
Prevention
Do not forget that the rehabilitation recommended by the doctor, or rather its timing, is not an absolute. In order to continue to maintain immunity, it is required to continue to apply preventive measures. These include hardening and good nutrition. Every day, the child should be in the fresh air, and you should consult a doctor in a timely manner if you suspect any disease. And, of course, you need to follow the vaccination regimen.
Pneumonia is a serious illness, the course of which, even with effective therapy, leads to disturbances in the structure of the lungs. Therefore, it is important to go through all the stages to the end. It takes time and money, but, ultimately, is the key to the health of your child in the future. In many ways, it is rehabilitation that determines how soon the baby will again be in the hospital bed.