Possibilities of physical therapy and electrophysical modalities in the complex therapy of pneumonia

Abstract

Pneumonia is one of the most common infectious diseases and the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. High rates of morbidity, frequency of complications, mortality, the emergence of new highly virulent strains of pneumonia pathogens, antibiotic resistance determine the global medical and social problem of community-acquired pneumonia. The economic consequences of pneumonia are represented not only by direct medical costs (the cost of maintaining a patient in a medical institution, the cost of medical services, the cost of medicines, laboratory and instrumental studies, other medical procedures, etc.), but also include non-material costs from pneumonia, which include pain, psycho-emotional experiences of the patient due to a decrease in the quality of life during the illness. One of the directions of increasing the effectiveness of pneumonia therapy is the widespread introduction of physical therapy (PT) and electrophysical modalities (EM) into complex treatment, which are an important part of the medical rehabilitation for pneumonia, aimed at the speedy restoration of the health and working capacity of patients. The effectiveness of EM in the treatment of pneumonia is due to the versatile therapeutic effect of physical factors that have anti-inflammatory, desensitizing, bacteriostatic, broncholytic, mucolytic, immunostimulant effects, improve blood supply to the lungs. PT contributes to the normalization of pulmonary ventilation, has an expectorant effect, strengthens the respiratory muscles, accelerates the resorption of the inflammatory focus, prevents the formation of pleural adhesions, activates blood and lymph circulation. PT and EM are relevant in the comprehensive treatment of community-acquired pneumonia since they accelerate the regression of clinical symptoms, decrease the drug load, reduce the duration of inpatient treatment, that is confirmed by the results of clinical studies. We assume that the inclusion of PT and EM in the comprehensive treatment of pneumonia can lead to minimizing the total cost of the disease while reducing the duration and volume of drug treatment.