Positional therapy can work very well in combination with other sleep apnea treatments. If you adjust over time to not sleeping on your back it might be possible to stop using the tennis balls or positional therapy devices.
1 osas is characterized by repetitive upper airway collapse during sleep resulting in a complete apnea or partial hypopnea obstruction in airflow reduced oxygen saturation levels and disruptive snoring.
Positional therapy sleep apnea tennis ball. When you lie on your back the lower jaw mandible tongue and soft tissues of the palate and uvula can easily fall into and block your airway. Learn more from webmd about gadgets devices and strategies for treating obstructive sleep apnea including cpap machines mouth devices position pillows and the tennis ball technique. Best wishes and hope this helps.
The increased respiratory effort to restore oxygen. What is the tennis ball technique. Snoring is caused by a partial obstruction of soft tissues in the airway including the back of the mouth throat tongue epiglottis uvula tonsils and soft palate.
It is a simple method of positional therapy that helps you avoid sleeping on your back. A new study from australia examined long term compliance with the tennis ball technique in people with obstructive sleep apnea the results were published in the journal of clinical sleep medicine. Positional therapy for sleep apnea can be utilized by itself or in combination with other options.
For patients with mild sleep apnea or primary snoring that occurs when laying on the back the therapy can be very effective. In some people sleep apnea may be significantly worsened when lying supine. If you roll on your back the tennis ball will create discomfort and you ll quickly make a change.
When snoring and sleep apnea worsen by position. Rarely the disorder may only occur on the back. Osa affects 2 26 of the general population depending on gender age and definition of the criteria used 1 2 osa is associated with significant morbidity such as excessive daytime sleepiness socially unacceptable snoring and impaired quality of life.
Millions of people in the world can t afford a sleep study a cpap machine and a mask or even a doctor to let them know they suffer from apnea syndrome. Sounds silly but it works. Extra fatty tissue around the neck in someone that s obese can also play a role.
If your study demonstrates that sleep apnea solely occurs to a significant degree on your back you will benefit from positional therapy including potentially the use of a tennis ball. Positional therapy for snoring can be an effective treatment for those that snore in certain positions specifically on their backs. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome osas is a common sleep related breathing disorder affecting 14 of middle aged men and 5 of women.
Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea osa are the most prevalent sleep disordered breathing problems. Snoring and sleep apnea may be worse on your back due to the simple effects of gravity. Discover if positional therapy can be an alternative to cpap in your fight with sleep apnea breathing disorder.
