Living through Pandemic

All About Pulmonary Rehabilitation – Covid Rehab For 2022

Pulmonary rehabilitation is an intervention and training program designed to exercise, train, and improve the physical and psychological condition of individuals with chronic respiratory disease and promote the long-term respiratory health of these individuals. In the past year, COVID-19 has wrought havoc around the world and the first thing that gets affected because of COVID is the respiratory health of an individual. Even after you have been cured from the disease, the effects of COVID stay within the lungs causing different respiratory ailments and discomfort. Pulmonary rehabilitation is a tailored program that helps battle the effects of COVID-19 and other chronic respiratory conditions and help you restore your daily life to a normal and healthy state.

What is a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program?

Pulmonary rehabilitation programs are specially designed training programs for people who have or are suffering from a chronic respiratory condition. The design of the program varies from person to person and condition to condition. On a brief level, pulmo rehab programs involve:

• Multidisciplinary Input
• Exercise (Breathing and Fitness)
• Dietary Changes
• Disease Education
• Behavioral Intervention
• Psychological Intervention

The time period for a pulmonary rehabilitation program can be from anywhere between 6-8 weeks to a year. Depending on the severity of the condition or its after effects, the length of the program is decided by a respiratory therapist. Sometimes, for recurring conditions, a PR schedule might be conducted in phases with varying intensity.

Physical Intervention for Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Physiotherapy and change in environment plays an important role in the successful implementation of a pulmonary rehabilitation program. There are three parts of physical intervention involved in pulmo rehab.

1. Functional Training

Functional training involves the implementations of a few things that can ease the stress on an individual who is undergoing PR. They include:

• Adapting the environment around the individual
• Replacing daily use heavy objects with lighter ones
• Placing chairs at the landing of a staircase or bathtubs
• Using adaptive daily aids for everyday tasks
• Ensuring good ventilation in the house and especially the rooms
• Work areas should be convenient to avoid bending

2. Altering Performance Tasks

Altering performance tasks involves reducing the intensity of the daily tasks that you undertake while going through a pulmo rehab program.

• Slow pace of daily activities
• Minimize the number of large body movements you make
• Schedule breaks and rest phases during your day

3. Relieving Symptoms

There are different methods you can implore to relieve the symptoms. Here are a few things you can do:

• Try to maintain an uninterrupted breathing pattern
• Avoid talking while eating or while doing a task
• Depending on your program, take short or longer breaths, do not switch in between
• Always maintain good aeration in the room that you sleep in
• Avoid venturing out in the dust

Exercises for Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Exercise is the second important pillar of a successful pulmonary rehabilitation program. The exercises that you would usually do in a PR program would be prescribed to you by a respiratory therapist and a physiotherapist. Exercises generally include:

Stretching

Stretching involves pulling and contracting the muscles of the body which helps in reducing the chances of injury and muscle strain. It also helps in strengthening the muscles which are usually weakened due to a chronic respiratory disorder. The lung muscles are the ones most affected by a condition like COVID and stretching exercise can help regain the lost strength of these muscles.

Cardiovascular

Since breathing is the thing most affected by COVID and other chronic disorders, cardiovascular exercises can help improve the body’s ability to use as well as store oxygen. These exercises help strengthen the heart and the lungs thus increasing the breathing capacity of an individual and decrease the chances of breathlessness. Improved blood circulation to the muscles can help enhance their growth thus reducing chest pain and fatigue. Cardiovascular exercises include:

• Walking
• Jogging
• Jumping Rope
• Cycling
• Skating
• Swimming

Strength Training

The last step of exercise training or exercise intervention for pulmo rehab is strength training which involves using heavy weights to strengthen the muscles of the body. Strength training can be divided for different muscle groups and parts of the body, but with pulmo rehab, strength training is most applicable to the upper body. This helps strengthen the chest muscles which increases an individual’s breathing capacity and strengthens the lungs to reduce the effects of further conditions.

Top Five Products for Pulmonary Rehabilitation at HPFY

1. The Breather Respiratory Muscle Training Device

2. Rolyan Ergonomic Hand Exerciser