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Aunt Sarah's oils and things, The House of Foust, Greenwood, IN (2025)

11/24/2025

Beautiful! Sustainable and absolutely fantastic✨

11/19/2025

In the decades before advanced machines and modern respiratory therapy, hospitals all over the world relied on one humble technique to keep struggling lungs open: postural drainage.
No machines. No technology. Just gravity… and human dedication.

In the 1950s and 60s, when respiratory infections surged through overcrowded wards, overworked nurses found themselves facing patients who simply could not clear the heavy mucus that blocked their breathing. Chest physiotherapy was known, but equipment was limited. So caregivers turned to the simplest tool they had — the positioning of the human body itself.

They layered towels under the ribs, tilted chairs forward, elevated hips on pillows, and gently lowered the head so clogged secretion could move downward and out. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t high-tech. But it worked.

Patients who had been wheezing and gasping slowly began to breathe easier. Their chests loosened. Their lungs finally had space to open.
For families watching helplessly, it felt nothing short of miraculous — yet it was really the result of trained hands, careful observation, and medical creativity.

By the 1970s, postural drainage had become a standard lifesaving technique in hospitals from India to Europe to Vietnam. Physiotherapists still use it today for conditions like bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, and chronic lung infections — a reminder that even in an age of machines, sometimes the oldest methods remain the most trusted.