Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Respiratory Health

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Pulmonary rehabilitation

Doctors used to think that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had little hope of improvement beyond the modest benefits of medication and oxygen therapy. But research and experience have shown otherwise. Whether your condition is moderate or advanced, if you continue to have breathlessness and other symptoms even when you are using medication, chances are you will benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation. Your doctor may recommend it. But if not, you can inquire about it.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a multifaceted program of exercise, education, and other therapies that can help you feel better and carry out day-to-day activities with greater ease and independence. It is conducted by a team of specialists that may include a doctor, a nurse, a physical therapist, and sometimes a physiologist or respiratory therapist (see "The pulmonary rehabilitation team").

Like cardiovascular rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation can take place in a hospital or patient rehabilitation center, at an outpatient center, or at home. Inpatient rehabilitation provides the most extensive services and is reserved for those with the most severe disease. Outpatient rehabilitation, which can be at a hospital or freestanding clinic, is the most widespread form of pulmonary rehabilitation, as well as the least expensive. Home-based rehabilitation is an alternative to outpatient rehabilitation for some people, but the range of services is more limited. Whether you get outpatient or home-based rehabilitation will depend on the options in your area and your insurance coverage.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is not a cure; nor can it slow the progression of your lung disease. But it can help reduce your symptoms, increase your muscular strength, and improve your endurance. Rehabilitation works because the symptoms and disability of COPD reflect not only the disease itself, which can't be reversed, but also a host of secondary problems such as muscle weakness, which can be reversed to some degree. If you have been missing days at work or have been unable to perform your usual daily activities because of the disease, rehabilitation can help you manage your symptoms well enough to return to work or resume your activities on a more regular basis. If your disease is advanced, rehabilitation can help you resume some activities that may have become difficult or impossible, like getting dressed without help and getting in and out of a car.

Last updated:	May 23, 2007