Improved Exercise Tolerance in Patients with Chronic Airway Obstruction

Abstract

The application of physical therapy techniques including training in abdominal-diaphragmatic breathing and pursed lip exhalation, along with daily graded physical exercises, has provided sustained improvement in exercise tolerance in severely disabled individuals with emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Although ventilatory function and arterial blood gases were not altered in observations repeated one and two years after commencement of the study, improvement in walking tolerance, ability to climb stairs, and ability to perform work on stairs was sustained for periods up to two years.