Pulmonary Rehabilitation Participation

Talk to your doctor about taking part in a pulmonary rehabilitation program. Pulmonary rehabilitation uses different therapies for persons with pulmonary disease. The goal of pulmonary rehabilitation is to help patients reach and maintain their maximum level of independence and ability to function in the community.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is becoming a crucial part of therapy for many patients. It offers the best treatment option for patients with chronic respiratory illnesses. It helps people increase their exercise capacity and endurance and improves their health-related quality of life. The treatment also helps people breathe easier and results in fewer hospital admissions, even among patients with the most severe degree of lung disease.

Patients with advanced lung disease may have emotional disorders, mainly depression and anxiety. In addition to appropriate medical therapy for these disorders, exercise as part of a pulmonary rehabilitation program can help lessen these feelings.

The goals of a pulmonary rehabilitation program are to:

• Make breathing easier
• Improve pulmonary function
• Ease shortness of breath
• Increase efficiency of energy use
• Correct nutrition deficiencies
• Improve exercise performance and daily activities
• Restore a positive outlook
• Improve emotional state
• Decrease health-related costs
• Improve survival

If you are interested in pulmonary rehabilitation, ask your doctor to help you design a program that will work for you.