Pulmonary Rehabilitation

What is Pulmonary Rehabilitation?

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a program of education and exercise that helps you manage your breathing problem, increase your stamina (energy) and decrease your breathlessness. The education part of the program teaches you to be “in charge” of your breathing instead of your breathing being in charge of you. You will learn how to pace your breathing with your activities, how to take your medicines and how to talk with your healthcare provider. The exercise sessions are supervised by a pulmonary rehabilitation staff that prepares an exercise program just for you. The exercises start at a level that you can handle (some people start exercising while sitting and others on a treadmill). The amount of time you exercise will be increased in time and the level of difficulty will change based on your ability. As your muscles get stronger, you will exercise longer with less breathlessness and be less tired.

Get more answers from American Thoracic Society:

Introduction to Pulmonary Rehab

Here you will find the basic of what pulmonary rehab is and an introduction.

Some Easy Tips to Follow at Home

5 Pulmonary Rehab Tips You Can Do at Home
A Short Video on Pulmonary Rehab

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programs: In Person

American Thoracic Society and American Lung Association have curated resourses on pulmonary rehabilitation
You can find selected programs close to you through LIVEBETTER

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Online Programs

Online pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was found to be as effective as face-to-face rehabilitation programs at improving patients’ exercise capacity and symptom control.^(1-3)

This is a sample of pulmonary rehab programs that are available online:

A: Comprehensive Programs you follow on your own

From Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation with partnership of The American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR)

B: Programs you enroll in

Please read carefully and make your own decisions regarding enrolment: (these are suggestions and not endorsements from mededcenter.org)

References:

Bourne S, DeVos R, North M, Chauhan A, Green B, Brown T, et al. Online versus face-to-face pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2017; 7(7):e014580.
Chaplin E, Hewitt S, Apps L, Bankart J, Pulikottil-Jacob R, Boyce S, et al. Interactive web- based pulmonary rehabilitation programme: a randomised controlled feasibility trial. BMJ Open. 2017;7(3):e013682.
Cox NS, McDonald CF, Alison JA, Mahal A, Wootton R, Hill CJ, et al. Telerehabilitation versus traditional centre-based pulmonary rehabilitation for people with chronic respiratory disease: protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMC Pulmonary Medicine. 2018;18(1):71.

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