The short answer
An incentive spirometer is a device used to help you keep your lungs healthy after surgery or with lung conditions. You sit upright, seal your lips around the mouthpiece, breathe in slowly, hold for three to five seconds, and breathe out. Most people are asked to use it every one to two hours. Call your care team right away for increased shortness of breath, chest pain, fever or increased coughing.
The spirometer is a device used to help you keep your lungs healthy.
Sit upright, seal your lips around the mouthpiece and breathe in slowly.
Hold your breath for 3 to 5 seconds, then breathe out slowly.
Use it every 1 to 2 hours as directed, taking 10 to 15 breaths each time.
On this page
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The whole article, with every detail and caution.
This page is for anyone sent home or kept in the hospital with an incentive spirometer after surgery. It explains what the device does, how to use it, and how often.
When to get help sooner
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department if you are struggling to breathe or have chest pain.
- Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department for black or tarry stool, blood in vomit or vomit that looks like coffee grounds, or heavy bleeding.
- Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department for sudden confusion or being hard to wake.
Call your care team right away if you have increased shortness of breath, chest pain, fever, or increased coughing. MedlinePlus lists these as reasons to contact your provider. If breathing gets hard or chest pain does not stop, call 911.
If you are on chemotherapy or have low white blood cells, call your care team right away, day or night, for chills, sore throat, mouth sores, burning when you urinate, redness at a catheter or incision site, or any sign of infection. A normal temperature is not a reason to wait.
What the plastic thing on your bedside table does
The spirometer is a device used to help you keep your lungs healthy. It is used after surgery and by people managing lung conditions.
It has a chamber, a mouthpiece, tubing and a marker.
How to use it
- Sit upright.
- Seal your lips around the mouthpiece.
- Breathe out normally, then breathe in slowly.
- Watch the indicator rise as you breathe in.
- Hold your breath for 3 to 5 seconds.
- Breathe out slowly.
Inside the device there is a small ball or disk. MedlinePlus says to keep it centered while you breathe in.
How often
The usual instruction is every 1 to 2 hours, as directed by your provider, taking 10 to 15 breaths each session.
A repeating alarm on your phone can help you keep track.
Making it bearable after surgery
If you have a chest or abdominal incision, MedlinePlus suggests holding a pillow against it while you use the device.
Follow the target your provider marked.
If you feel dizzy, take the mouthpiece out of your mouth and take some normal breaths. Tell your care team if it keeps happening.
Keeping it up at home
Before you leave, ask how many days you should keep using the device and how often.
Common questions
What is the ball or disk in the chamber for?
MedlinePlus says to keep the ball or disk centered in the chamber while you breathe in.
How often am I supposed to do this?
Every 1 to 2 hours as directed by your provider, with 10 to 15 breaths per session.
It hurts my incision. What can I do?
MedlinePlus suggests using a pillow to support a chest or abdominal incision while you use it.
What is the target marker?
MedlinePlus says to follow the target your provider marked. Ask your team where yours should be set.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Sources last checked: 2026-08-11 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-29Next planned review: 2027-08-11
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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