Oxygen Smart

What Portable Oxygen Machines Can You Use To Enhance Your Mobility?

Posted by admin - 25/06/09 at 08:06 pm

One of the most important things for a patient who needs supplemental oxygen, after breathing, is being able to stay mobile.  How much additional oxygen will depend on the severity of the pulmonary deficiency – some people need extra oxygen 2 to 3 hours a day, some at night, some only when exercising and others 24 hours a day.

Mobility and Supplemental Oxygen are two phrases that go hand in hand. An important part of life is being mobile, to move about, to lead active lives. Anyone who has to receive oxygen therapy should also be able to pursue the type of lifestyle he or she requires.  And one of the factors that help define life style is the degree of activity. People have different needs and different types of activity – what is important is to be able to recover that ability as much as possible. And this is where portable oxygen units come in.

What Types of Oxygen Units Are There?

There are 3 types of oxygen delivery systems for long term therapy patients and all three have portable options:

1. Compressed Oxygen Tanks – Aluminum tanks that contain pure oxygen in gas form. They are now much lighter and have a range of different sizes. Mobile tanks are those that weigh less than 5 pounds and portable one up to and around 17 pounds.
2. Liquid Oxygen Tanks – As name describes, these are tanks that hold liquid oxygen and are also lighter and come in different sizes.
3. Oxygen Concentrators – These are machines that extract oxygen from the surrounding air, redirecting it in a purer form to the user. Portable oxygen concentrators supply oxygen for much longer periods as they are not oxygen containers but oxygen suppliers. In other words they are limited not by the amount stored but by the power source. Portable ones can be plugged in and therefore extract oxygen from the surrounding air as long as the unit is receiving its power. Most POC’s have a rechargeable battery – depending on the make and model, this can last from 3 to 8 hours. (New alternatives are bound to be introduced as this is one of the major requirements of supplemental oxygen users).

The oxygen flow is regulated by a flow valve to the patient who receives the oxygen either through a nose cannula or a mask. Their are different types of valves – some provide oxygen at a continuous flow and others can be regulated. There are both positive and negative aspects. In constant flow rates the upside is that the patient is always receiving oxygen at a predetermined rate; the downside is that tanks last much less as oxygen is provided whether the patient is breathing in or out. For regulated valves the upside is that much less oxygen is wasted; the downside is that oxygen is provided at specific intervals that are not necessarily aligned to the actual intake. Having said all that many patients prefer regulated flow valves.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Portable Oxygen, Travel and Mobility. The entry is tagged under Portable Oxygen, portable oxygen systems, portable oxygen units. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.