Pulmonary rehab backgrounder
Centre Daily Times | 02/13/2006 | Pulmonary rehab brings hope to sufferers of lung disease
Ever increasing de-conditioning results in more shortness of breath, and so the vicious cycle continues. A comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program provides an educational forum about COPD, as well as supervised exercise under the watchful eye of a respiratory therapist and psychosocial support. This intervention has been shown to reduce the sense of breathlessness described by COPD patients, thus allowing them to increase their activity level.Pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown to reduce the number of hospitalizations associated with exacerbation. It probably does not prolong the lives of patients with COPD, but it certainly improves their quality of life.