Pulmonary Rehabilitation Exercises

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 12:49 am

Introduction to Pulmonary Diseases and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Exercises

Pulmonary diseases like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is the culprit for the 120,000 deaths in the United States alone making it the 3rd leading cause of mortality in the country. Cigarette smoking is still the most prevalent cause in acquiring the disease. However hereditary can also be a risk factor for individuals with a family history of asthma and cystic fibrosis. Once you are diagnosed with a pulmonary disease, pulmonary rehabilitation exercises can help strengthen those what’s left in your lung muscles.

Pulmonary rehabilitation exercises are designed to restore normal functioning of the different parts of the respiratory system which sustained injury from accidents or prevent further respiratory collapse for patients with terminal respiratory illness such as emphysema, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis.

Pulmonary rehabilitation exercises are combined with continues medical therapy. It focuses on health education about taking care of your respiratory system, importance of good nutrition, breathing exercises, techniques on how to control your breathing, and energy conserving activities.

Pulmonary rehabilitation exercises can be done in an outpatient basis or at the comforts of your own home. Some pulmonary rehab centers have travel registered nurses which carry out pulmonary rehabilitation exercises and other therapeutic regimen as ordered by the physician. This is convenient to patients who have level 4 difficulty of breathing (when difficulty or shortness of breath is noted upon exerting minimal movements

like changing clothes). For out patient cases, a once a week appointment is enough to attain the goal of the entire therapy.

Upon admission, pulmonary rehab team carefully plans the entire therapeutic regimen which includes the suitable pulmonary rehabilitation exercises and the proper medicine prescription that goes along with it.

Benefits of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Exercises to COPD

Being a non smoker doesn’t guarantee that you won’t acquire COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Keep in mind that second hand smoke is a lot more deadly than those who directly suck nicotine out of a cigarette. A single stick of cigarette contains thousands of deadly chemicals. Once a smoker exhales, the threat of deadly chemicals was doubled since the smoke that a smoker expelled also includes his own carbon dioxide.

Let us find out how the simple pulmonary rehabilitation exercises can benefit COPD patients.

Health education serves an important role in pulmonary rehabilitation exercises. A person who has a pulmonary disease experiences occasional shortness of breath. If he is knowledgeable enough about the interventions he can implement to ease his breathing problem instead of panicking and crying, he can save his own life. These includes proper breathing technique, correct use of inhaler and nebulizer and the importance of being calm at all times.
Pulmonary rehabilitation exercises is proven to lengthen the lives of the patients because of adapting a new way of living. Pulmonary rehab sessions teaches the patients how to use proper body mechanics that requires less exertion and consumption of oxygen.
Pulmonary rehabilitation exercises promotes balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in a patient’s body. COPD patients have irreversible damage particularly on the alveoli of their lungs (part of the lungs responsible for gas exchange between the blood) therefore the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide should be regulated to prevent lung collapse and impending death.