A decades-old practice of flipping patients with respiratory issues onto their front side rather than having them lay on their backs may prove beneficial when dealing with coronavirus, and even increase chances of recovery, as the position is helping to improve oxygen delivery and absorption, experts say.
Dr. Imran Sharief, a pulmonary disease specialist in California, told Fox News that using what is called “prone positioning” with his coronavirus patients has proven beneficial. When patients on ventilators lie on their backs, a significant amount of pressure from the rib cage, fat content, secretions and gravity pulls contents in the body downward, thereby compressing airways, he said.
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Simply turning patients onto their front alleviates pressure and offers more area to deliver oxygen, lending more absorption in the system that will aid in oxygen delivery to all organs in the body.
Sharief, who works with patients across all counties in California, explained an average person normally intakes room air, which contains 21 percent oxygen, while COVID-19 patients require 90 to 100 percent oxygen.
Source: Rolling coronavirus patients on stomach may help chances of recovery, expert says | Fox News