Exercise Training and Rehabilitation
About Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a supervised medical program that helps people who have lung diseases live and breathe better. PR consists of educational classes and supervised exercise sessions for people with chronic breathing difficulty and benefits people diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), bronchiectasis, pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease, and other chronic pulmonary disorders.
PR is designed to help you better understand your breathing, learn how to live better with your condition, and increase your strength and endurance. One of the key mechanisms by which PR benefits patients is through exercise training adaptations in the muscles and cardiovascular system. Trained muscles are more efficient and produce less carbon dioxide and acid, both of which stimulate breathing. PR therefore lowers breathing demands for a given exercise intensity, which translates to reduced breathlessness and greater exercise endurance for patients.
Our Research
Investigators at the Respiratory Research Center have been at the forefront of exercise training and pulmonary rehabilitation for over 50 years. The modern clinical exercise test – called the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) – was invented by investigators at our research center, and remains the basis for much of our research. Current research includes studies to improve the diagnostic capabilities of cardiopulmonary exercise test, to investigate the mechanisms by which exercise training translates to improve immunologic function in respiratory disease and the benefits of exercise training in patients with long-haul COVID-19. Help advance medicine and medical research through participating in one of our clinical trials.
Other Resources
Learn more about exercise training and rehabilitation and the current research
Our Research Contributions
- Established the physiological basis of exercise intensity domains, used for prescribing exercise training programs in athletes and in patients
- Demonstrated that vigorous exercise training is capable of markedly improving exercise tolerance, even in patients with severe lung disease
- Demonstrated the benefit of combining oxygen supplementation with exercise training in COPD patients
- Contributed to establishing pulmonary rehabilitation as the standard of care for patients with pulmonary lung diseases
More of Our Research Specialties
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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs.
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Muscle Weakness
There are many reasons why individuals may lose strength, but in many patients with chronic heart, lung or kidney diseases the loss of muscle mass and strength is faster than normal.
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Asthma
Asthma is a condition in which your airways narrow and swell and may produce extra mucus. This can make breathing difficult and trigger coughing, a whistling sound (wheezing)
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Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a disease of high blood pressure in your pulmonary artery. This is the large artery that leaves the heart and goes to your lungs.