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How these guides are written and reviewed →
Inspire Clinic is rolling out a new Action and Management Plan. Until yours is issued, use this guide alongside the plan and instructions your care team has already given you.
The building blocks of staying well
Everyone’s plan is different, but most are built from the same components — tap any one below to open its guide.
Clearing your chest regularly to breathe more easily and lower infection risk.
Loosening secretions and keeping airways open — MucoClear® and your puffers.
One of the most powerful treatments — fitness, less breathlessness, fewer flare-ups.
A sensible order for reliever, clearance, maintenance inhalers and activity.
A traffic-light plan — recognise and respond at the right moment.
Vaccinations, stopping smoking, nutrition, mood, sleep and inhaler technique.
It is important that you establish a daily cardiorespiratory physiotherapy regimen. Establishing the routine takes time and consistency; for most people it becomes part of the normal day with practice.
Airway therapy — health, hygiene, risk reduction
If you produce sputum, clearing your chest regularly helps you breathe more easily and lowers the risk of infection. Your routine may use the Active Cycle of Breathing Technique and gravity-assisted positions — around 10 minutes twice a day, plus ad-hoc sessions to keep your airways clear.1,2
Your plan explains how to combine it with nebulised PARI MucoClear® and/or inhaled (puffer) medicines, and when to step it up at the first sign of a flare-up and start rescue packs. Nebulised therapy is about loosening secretions, airway hygiene and hydration. Airway clearance is essential for reducing the risk of a flare-up and managing chronic infection.
Exercise & staying active
Being active is one of the most powerful treatments for a lung condition — it improves your fitness, eases breathlessness over time and reduces flare-ups. Cardiorespiratory Rehabilitation is offered at Inspire Clinic as individually supervised 30-minute sessions, and this may have been recommended to you by your physiotherapist, GP or specialist physician.3
Aim to keep moving every day, use your breathing techniques to pace yourself, and keep gently active even during recovery from a flare-up rather than stopping altogether.
Your daily routine
Most people follow the same sequence morning and evening. Do only the steps that have been prescribed for you, and follow the exact strengths and timings in this plan.4
Morning
Evening
Repeat the same sequence in the evening as set out in your plan — reliever (if prescribed), nebulised MucoClear® for about 8 minutes (if prescribed), ACBT for about 10 minutes, then your inhalers, with nebulised antibiotics (if prescribed) last of all. Keep the evening session early enough that any loosened mucus is cleared well before bed.
Nebulised & inhaled medicines
Nebulised therapy loosens secretions and supports airway hygiene and hydration. Your plan will set out which agents you use — for example nebulised PARI MucoClear® (hypertonic saline) before clearance, your reliever, and any prescribed nebulised antibiotics, which go last. Take your daily maintenance inhalers after clearance so the medicine reaches open airways.
Learn more in Nebulised Therapy, and if you use one, the eChamber Portable Nebuliser Pro guide.
Staying well between flare-ups
- Keep your vaccinations up to date — flu each year, plus COVID-19 and pneumococcal as advised.
- If you smoke, stopping is the single most helpful step — we can help you access support.
- Eat well and stay hydrated — good nutrition and fluids help keep sputum easier to clear.
- Look after your mood and sleep — breathlessness and anxiety feed each other; your breathing techniques help both.
- Know your medicines and check your inhaler technique regularly — most people lose some accuracy over time.
Your team & review
Managing your condition is a shared effort. Your GP oversees your medicines and reviews your action plan; your physiotherapist (Sean) tailors your airway clearance, breathing and exercise; your pharmacist helps with inhaler technique and your rescue pack. Bring this plan to your appointments and let us know whenever your usual symptoms change. If you use your rescue pack, tell your GP within 48 hours so it can be reviewed and replaced.
Your action plan — recognise & respond
A traffic-light plan helps you act at the right moment. Your personalised plan always takes priority over this general guide. Learn the detail in Recognising a Flare-up.5
Your breathing, cough and sputum are at their usual level. Keep taking your regular inhalers, do your daily airway clearance, stay active, and keep your rescue pack in date.
Symptoms are worse than usual for more than a day — more breathless, more cough, or more/thicker/darker sputum. Step up your airway clearance, start your rescue pack as your plan directs, and tell your GP or clinic within 48 hours.
Severe breathlessness, unable to speak in sentences, blue lips or fingertips, drowsiness or confusion, chest pain, or coughing up a lot of blood — call 000 or go to your nearest emergency department. Do not wait for the rescue pack to work.
References & evidence base
- Bott J, Blumenthal S, Buxton M, et al. Guidelines for the physiotherapy management of the adult, medical, spontaneously breathing patient. Thorax 2009;64(Suppl 1):i1–i52.
- Hill AT, Sullivan AL, Chalmers JD, et al. British Thoracic Society guideline for bronchiectasis in adults. Thorax 2019;74(Suppl 1):1–69.
- Alison JA, McKeough ZJ, Johnston K, et al. Australian and New Zealand pulmonary rehabilitation guidelines. Respirology 2017;22(4):800–819.
- Elkins MR, Bye PTP. Mechanisms and applications of hypertonic saline. J R Soc Med 2011;104(Suppl 1):S2–S5.
- Lung Foundation Australia. COPD action plan. Brisbane: Lung Foundation Australia, 2024.
References are numbered in citation order (Vancouver/BMJ style) and were current at the time of writing. Guidelines are living documents — verify against the latest version before clinical use.
Everything starts with an assessment — your symptoms, breathing, exercise tolerance and daily function measured properly, so what follows is built on your lungs rather than an average.
Corrections: If something on this page is wrong, out of date or unclear, we want to know. Email reception@inspireclinic.au with the page name and what you believe is incorrect. Substantive corrections are made promptly, and the guide’s version and last-updated date are changed to reflect it.