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What Is an Incentive Spirometer?
An incentive spirometer is a simple, plastic medical device that exercises your lungs. Healthcare providers may recommend that you use an incentive spirometer (pronounced “in-SEN-tiv” “spy-ROM-uh-ter”) after an illness, surgery, or injury to your chest or abdomen.
The device is small. It’s about the size of a soda pop bottle. You can hold it in one hand.
An incentive spirometer is like an exercise machine for your lungs. It helps them get stronger after an injury or illness. It can also help maintain lung strength.
What is the purpose?
With regular use, an incentive spirometer helps your lungs expand. This allows you to take deep, full breaths instead of short, shallow breaths.
What is a normal range?
There’s no “normal” or typical incentive spirometer range. The values are different according to your:
Age
Height
Sex
Your healthcare provider will consider these factors when they help you set goals. Reaching your goals is important. It’s a good sign your lungs are improving if your breaths are consistently higher than your goal.
What are the benefits?
An incentive spirometer is like an exercise machine for your lungs. It helps maintain your lung strength. It can also help your lungs get stronger after an injury or illness.
After surgery, an incentive spirometer can:
Improve lung ventilation: Ventilation is how much air enters your lungs when you breathe in and how much air leaves your lungs when you breathe out.
Recover from anesthesia quickly: It helps clear anesthesia from your lungs.
Loosen mucus from your lungs: Deep breaths in (inhalations) help prevent mucus and fluids from building up in your lungs.
Help prevent lung complications: Slow, deep breaths fully inflate your lungs. This helps clear any fluids that may cause lung conditions, like pneumonia.
What are the different types of incentive spirometers?
There are two types:
Flow-oriented incentive spirometer (FIS): An FIS makes you work harder to breathe. It provides resistance as you breathe in deeply. It helps increase the muscles in your upper chest.
Volume-oriented incentive spirometer (VIS): A VIS doesn’t make you work as hard to breathe as an FIS. It helps improve activity and movement in your diaphragm.
Who should use it?
Your healthcare provider may give you an incentive spirometer in the following situations:
Rib fracture: Your ribs may be sore to the touch. It may also hurt to breathe or cough. Everyday activities like walking, running or going upstairs may be uncomfortable or painful. Using an incentive spirometer helps ensure you’re breathing deeply to keep your lungs open. It also helps prevent complications from shallow breathing.
Bed rest: Your provider may recommend bed rest after surgery or an injury. You rest in bed or on a comfortable couch at home. You’ll limit your movements and activities. An incentive spirometer will help you continue to exercise and expand your lungs while your movement is limited.
Asthma: This causes inflammation in your airways. Your airways tighten and produce mucus. You may use an incentive spirometer as a breathing exercise to help improve symptoms.
Pneumonia: This causes air sacs in your lungs to fill with mucus and other fluids. An incentive spirometer helps to fully expand your lungs to prevent fluid or mucus from entering your air sacs. A forced cough after a breath may help loosen mucus and fluids.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): This is a group of diseases that causes permanent lung damage. You can’t reverse COPD lung damage. But an incentive spirometer helps track how well your lungs are functioning during or after hospitalization for COPD.
Cystic fibrosis: This causes mucus to build up in your organs, including your lungs. Using an incentive spirometer for deep breathing may help to get air behind blockages. A forced cough may also help clear mucus from your lungs.
Sickle cell anemia: This can cause your cells to clump together and clog blood vessels in your lungs. An incentive spirometer can prevent complications associated with acute chest syndrome in people with sickle cell anemia.
Atelectasis: This prevents your lungs from properly inflating. Using an incentive spirometer can help prevent atelectasis, especially after surgery.
