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 Apr 16, 2020

Belated Easter wishes to you all.  We hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather; in your garden, balcony or whatever inch of space you managed to carve out for yourself.   The wishes are late as working on the computer took second place as we took on a ‘gardening project' and thus the Celebration.  We recently added a small conservatory/porch on our house and realised we now had the perfect place for a shaded seating area.  So with bits scavenged from elsewhere in the garden and three days of hard graft, we ate dinner in the newly created space. As always it was a great sense of achievement. 

We try to provide useful information in these messages and this time it is all about lungs and breathing, all information that has come our way from medical and fitness professionals.

As we are all aware the lungs are badly affected by this virus so understanding your lungs, how they work and how to breathe may be of use, should any of us become ill.  Breathing exercises are also regularly used as a relaxation technique so should it all become too stressful at any stage of isolation it may be a useful exercise to have to hand.

There are two videos.  One, available now on our Instagram and Facebook, is by Rhian from Not Just Backs Osteopaths and explains the mechanics of breathing and advice on how to breathe. The second, which will be on our social media from Monday, is by a Pilates Institute qualified instructor Sara of Fitness Design.  This demonstrates the actual breathing exercises which will both help you to relax and help to keep your lungs healthy. If you do not have access to social media please reply to this and we will try to email the videos to you.

The final advice is from a Respiratory Physiotherapist at QE in Birmingham and really important to know should anyone have symptoms of the virus.  It should reduce the need for oxygen therapy, provide an improvement in drainage and help minimise collapse of the small airways.  It may also reduce the need for hospitalisation. 

It is really important that you spend as little time as possible lying on your back. Swap between side lying and front lying in each case with pillows under your pelvis so your head is approximately 30 degrees below the pelvis - two pillows should achieve this.  Take 5-6 deep breaths and hold for a few seconds on the last breath.

As always it is important you call 111 and seek medical advice should you have any symptoms.  These breathing exercises are purely additional knowledge which may help alleviate symptoms and help with comfort but are not a replacement for proper medical advice and intervention should it be necessary.

On a lighter note, all of the Gentle Dental team are keeping well. We have all signed up to online training and will have our first Zoom call next week to discuss the training and perhaps even do some online training as a group.  This way when we do get to reopen, we will be right up to date and ready to go!

Keep well and safe.

Warmest wishes

Rob, Niamh & the fabulous Gentle Dental team.

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