It is now widely accepted that with good care, many young persons with CF (PWCF) may well live to be middle aged. However, in PWCF there are increased respiratory demands due to the constant coughing needed to keep the airways clear. These demands inevitably will have negative impacts on the muscles, ribcage and spine resulting in kyphosis (hunched back), chest pain, low back pain and barrel shaping of the chest due to outward pressure and changes in the structure of the lungs from CF.
In order to avoid or at least delay these potential complications of repetitive coughing, a program of early intervention with physiotherapy has been devised by US Physiotherapist and researcher, Dr. Mary Massery. Functional outcomes such as decreased hospitalisations, fewer missed days at school, and increased participation in life have resulted. Dr. Massery has presented her work at international CF meetings, is keen to do more research into even earlier intervention in younger children before they show obvious signs of damage.
It is hoped that such intervention for young children with CF will have considerable long term benefits. Successful early intervention in a 9-year old girl with CF as well as details of the program including specific tests and physiotherapy interventions were published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in May 2005 entitled “Musculoskeletal and neuromuscular interventions: a physical approach to cystic fibrosis” The article can be directly downloaded free of charge from the author’s website: www.MasseryPT.com
