Acute effect of slow expiration with the glottis open in lateral posture ("expiration lente totale glotte ouverte en infralatéral", ELTGOL) and huff on physical properties of sputum from patients with bronchiectasis: a pilot study

Patients underwent two bronchial hygiene techniques, the slow expiration with the glottis open in lateral posture ("expiration lente totale glotte ouverte en infralatéral", ELTGOL) and huff. The patients were their own controls, i.e., patients were submitted to both techniques, at different times. The first technique applied was chosen randomly. After three days of washout, the second technique was applied, following the design of a crossover study. Each technique was administered in the morning, in a single session, with an interval of three days between them (washout), i.e., the treatment period was one day and the washout period was 3 days. The slow expiration with the glottis open in lateral posture ("expiration lente totale glotte ouverte en infralatéral", ELTGOL) was applied in the posture lateral right and lateral left. The patient was instructed to relax and exhale through the mouth using a mouthpiece. The physiotherapist did a manual traction in the region infralateral the chest, the ribs toward the line Alba. This tension originated from the functional residual capacity, ending at residual volume. The technique was 15 minutes in each hemithorax. The huff was performed with the patient sitting in a chair with armrest and feet on the ground. The patient was instructed to make an inspiration to medium volumes followed by a forced expiration with the glottis and mouth open, holding the contraction of abdominal muscles, reaching residual volume. The technique was performed for ten minutes, going six huff per minute, interspersed with one minute of rest, resulting in a total of five series of huff.