What should you know about airx incentive spirometer?

An incentive spirometer is different from a diagnostic spirometer. It does not measure your breathing to diagnose an airway problem. Instead, it gives visual feedback while you inhale slowly through a mouthpiece. After surgery, illness, or a period of shallow breathing, a care team may recommend it to help you practise fuller breaths and keep the lungs expanding.

The target on the device is personal. Your clinician or respiratory therapist should show you the right technique and set a suitable goal. Do not force the breath or chase a number if that causes pain, dizziness, or worsening breathlessness.

Sit upright, relax your shoulders, and hold the device level. Exhale normally, place your lips tightly around the mouthpiece, then breathe in slowly and deeply so the indicator rises in a controlled way. Hold the breath briefly if your care team instructs you to, remove the mouthpiece, and breathe out normally. Rest between attempts and follow the schedule provided by your clinical team.

Keep the mouthpiece clean as directed and do not share the device. Continue prescribed medicines, coughing exercises, movement, and pain control according to your discharge plan. If an incision or chest injury hurts, support it as instructed rather than taking shallow breaths without telling your team.

Stop using the device and seek urgent help for severe breathlessness, blue or grey lips, fainting, new confusion, severe chest pain, or sudden deterioration. Contact your care team promptly for fever, increasing cough, foul or bloody phlegm, worsening pain, or breathlessness that is not settling with rest. A handheld device cannot assess the cause of these symptoms. For equipment information, see Spirometer; for a measured breathing test, see Spirometry.

Ask how often to use the device, what target is appropriate for you, whether coughing or movement should follow each session, and which symptoms should prompt a call after discharge.