What kind of back patting position can achieve the purpose of vibrating for sputum discharge is a long-standing doubt of parents.
Parents expect that the vibration caused by patting the back and the changing of position could make the sputum flow to achieve the purpose of sputum discharge, so what is the correct position for patting the back is their concern?
Parents may be disappointed by the facts. Back patting does not serve the purpose of aiding sputum discharge.
A review by the Cochrane Institute of Evidence-Based Medicine reported on this claim: one study summarizing five controlled studies of patients aged 2 years with acute capillary bronchitis found that traditional physiotherapy modalities such as back patting did not help improve the recovery of cough.
The British Thoracic Society's 2002 guidelines for children with pneumonia state that chest physiotherapy should not be given to children with pneumonia because there is no benefit and a controlled study in Brazil in 2008 did not find it useful for pneumonia, but may lead to prolonged cough and lung rales. While a 2013 Cochrane review stated that there is no conclusive evidence to support such a treatment as vibratory sputum tapping in children with pneumonia.
Since it does not work, there is no correct way to pat the back, and parents do not need to spend time and energy tossing their children around, much less obsessing about the way to pat the back.
