What is Pulmonary Rehabilitation?
Pulmonary rehabilitation, also known as respiratory rehabilitation, is an important part of the management and health maintenance of people with chronic respiratory disease. It is a supervised program that includes exercise training, health education, and breathing techniques for people who have certain lung conditions or lung problems due to other conditions.
Main components of Pulmonary rehabilitation programme
Patient assessment
Exercise training
Nutritional counselling
Psychological counselling
Patient education on the disease, management and self-care
Contraindications of pulmonary rehabilitation:
Those who are unable to walk.
Those who have unstable angina.
People who have had a recent myocardial infarction.
Those with a Medical Research Council (MRC) Dyspnoea score of 3–5 who are functionally limited by breathlessness.
Use of exercise, education and behavioural intervention to improve how people with chronic lung disease function in daily life and to enhance their quality of life are commonly under pulmonary rehabilitation.
There are advantages in pulmonary rehabilitation programmes.
Reduced patient symptoms
In pulmonary rehabilitation, a patient will learn everything necessary for managing chronic lung diseases. This covered usually include exercise, relaxation, breathing techniques, nutritional advice, emotional support and how to cope with the condition itself. So, it helps to relieve symptoms and improve the quality of living.
Improves limb function
Exercise training of the arms is also beneficial for people with chronic lung diseases who have shortness of breath or other symptoms during their normal activities of daily living, such as washing their hair or shaving. Such training is needed because chronic lung disease can cause muscle loss, and some of the shoulder muscles are used in breathing as well as in moving the arms. Activities involving arm work can quickly overexert these muscles. So, pulmonary rehabilitation programmes improve limb function by strengthening the muscles by exercise training.
Improves exercise capacity
In exercise training mainly focus on Higher intensity exercise training. Alternatively, for those who are not able to perform high-intensity endurance exercise are willing to do low-intensity endurance training or interval training. Exercise of the legs is the cornerstone of training. Because walking is necessary for most activities of daily living, many rehabilitation programs use walking (sometimes on a treadmill) as the preferred mode of training. Some people may prefer exercising on a stationary bicycle. Choosing an exercise that is comfortable and satisfying for the person enhances the willingness to participate long-term.
Aerobic exercise and strength training are both important components of exercise training in people with lung disorders. Engaging in pulmonary rehabilitation improves the exercise capacity of patients.
Improves Emotional Function
The emotional function may improve with the psychological counselling of pulmonary rehabilitation programme.
It helps,
Improve communication and interpersonal skills.
Greater self-acceptance and self-esteem.
Ability to change self-defeating behaviours/habits.
Better expression and management of emotions, including anger.
Belief from depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions.
Improves the Quality of Life (QoL)
All the components of pulmonary rehabilitation help to uplift the quality of life of the person.
Improve the knowledge and self-efficacy
During your pulmonary rehabilitation program, a great emphasis will be placed on patient and family education. This enables you to better manage your disease at home with the help of knowledgeable family members.
Dinushi Nayanjana
References
https://www.verywellhealth.com/pulmonary-rehabilitation-914701
https://pulmonaryrehab.com.au/introduction/what-is-the-program-about/
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