What To Expect - Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Respiratory Health

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

What to expect

Pulmonary rehabilitation usually lasts about six weeks, but it can be longer or shorter depending on your needs and your insurance coverage. These factors also influence how often you have rehabilitation sessions. If you are in the hospital and therefore in need of the most intensive rehabilitation, you may be seen as often as twice a day, seven days a week. If you are attending an outpatient clinic or receiving at-home therapy, you may have rehabilitation sessions anywhere from one to three times a week. Some insurance carriers base their coverage on the results of your pulmonary function tests rather than the severity of your symptoms.

The central components of pulmonary rehabilitation are exercise therapy, patient education, and regular evaluation of your progress. Exercise therapy focuses on aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming to increase your endurance. You may also learn breathing exercises to help you avoid getting out of breath during daily activities and to reduce shortness of breath. Patient education covers medication use and other strategies for managing your disease symptoms. Depending on your needs, you may also receive such services as occupational therapy, nutrition counseling, and psychological therapy. Periodically throughout your rehabilitation, the doctor, nurse, and therapists will assess your progress and possibly recommend changes in your treatment or rehabilitation regimen. Assessments focus on how well you can function — how much farther you can walk, for example — after a few weeks of rehabilitation compared with before rehabilitation.

Last updated:	May 23, 2007