What Is The Trachea?
The trachea is the same as the windpipe: it’s a pipe that connects your pharynx to your lungs. When it reaches the lungs, it splits in two, one for each lung.
Its role is to take air from your mouth to your lungs, so you can breath. Also, it has some mucus and tiny hairs inside it. They capture dust and particles and drive them out. Otherwise, they would enter your lungs and irritate them.
Sometimes, your trachea may be blocked, by a tumor or by some object you swallowed by mistake (mainly children and old people). This is a serious matter, as you can suffocate.
If there is some doctor, nurse, etc., around you, they should perform the Heimlich maneuver—pushing against your diaphragm so that your own trapped air expels the object.
When that doesn’t work there is a last resort: tracheostomy. If consists of piercing your trachea below the obstruction, so that air can flow directly, avoiding the tumor or foreign object.
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