Recent Advances in Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Patients with COPD.
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a non-pharmacologic therapy that has emerged as a standard
of care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is a comprehensive,
multidisciplinary, patient-centered intervention that includes patient assessment, exercise training, self-management education, and psychosocial support. PR is usually given in inpatient, outpatient, community-based or home-based setting lasting 8-12 weeks. Positive outcomes from PR include increased exercise tolerance, reduced dyspnea and anxiety, increased selfefficacy, and improvement in health-related quality of life (QoL).
A strong inverse association between daily physical activity and dynamic hyperinflation, which correlates strongly with exertional dyspnea in COPD. Changing physical activity behavior inpatients with COPD needs an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together respiratory medicine, rehabilitation sciences, social sciences, and behavioral sciences. There is a need for more education and learning opportunities for primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and all allied health care professionals about the process and benefits of PR.
There is also a need for the sustainability and the safety of PR in the future study. Pedometers are devices which estimate the number of steps taken through mechanical or digital measurements in only the vertical plane. Physical activity levels predict important outcomes in COPD. PR is a non-pharmacologic therapy that has emerged as a standard of care for patients with COPD. It is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, patient-centered intervention that includes patient assessment, exercise training, self-management education, and psychosocial support.
Pulm Res Respir Med Open J. 2017; SE(2): S7-S19. doi: 10.17140/PRRMOJ-SE-2-102
