Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Exercise






Description

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is an umbrella term for lung and airway diseases that restrict your breathing. People with COPD have airway inflammation, scarring and damage to the air sacs in their lungs.

Prevalence

  • Around 638,000 (2.5%) of people in Australia were estimated to be living with COPD in 2022 (1)
  • One in fourteen (7.0%) people aged 65 years and over had COPD which is higher than any other age group (1)

    • Risk Factors

    Physiological:
    • Lung cancer, lung infections and heart conditions
    • Experiencing frequent respiratory infections in childhood
    • Risk of COPD increases with age
    • History of asthma 
    Environmental:
    • Air pollution
    • Occupational exposure to chemicals, dusts, fumes
    • Smoking and exposure to second hand smoke

    Types of COPD

     

    Emphysema:

    • Damage to the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs, reducing the ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide

    Chronic bronchitis:

    • Persistent inflammation of the airways, leading to excessive mucus production and a chronic cough



    Common Signs & Symptoms

    • Persistent coughing
    • Increased mucus or phlegm
    • Shortness of breath 
    • Frequent chest infections
    • Chest tightness
    • Fatigue
    • Wheezing 
    • Rib fractures due to severe coughing

    Impact on Life

    • COPD can effect:

      • Upper body weakness

          • Reduced chest wall muscles 
          • Increased likelihood of rib fractures 
          • Decreased ability to carry, push or pull objects 

      • Shortness of breath

          • Experiencing shortness of breath when completing everyday tasks
          • Experiencing shortness of breath when exercising and needing more rest 
          • Challenging to walk long distances without frequent rest periods 

      • Fatigue 

        • Makes it difficult to complete household chores
        • Can be challenging to participate in regular exercise 
        • Limits ability to engage in social activities
        • Needing frequent breaks


    How Can Exercise Physiology Help?

    Exercise Physiology can help to:

    • Identify what is giving you the most trouble and what is at risk of declining

      • COPD affects the lungs and as a result it can reduce what you do on a day to day basis as a result of your breathlessness
      • Factors that contribute to breathlessness and that can help to improve symptoms include:
        • Aerobic fitness/Lung efficiency 
        • Upper body strength 
        • Use of strategies such as pursed lip breathing
        • Lower body strength and difficulty of tasks involving your legs
      • We can help to identify what is causing you the most trouble so it can be directly addressed leading to effective results and continual improvement 

    • Identify a few key exercises that will make a big difference 

      • By directly addressing the key issues identified above it will lead to a much more effective intervention
      • From the testing we can identify 3 exercises that will help you to improve and manage your symptoms 

    • Work on exercises to improve your breathless and ability to participate in activities that your COPD has been stopping you from doing

      • Our Exercise Physiologists complete regular home visits helping people to complete a tailored set of exercises to help improve their COPD symptoms
      • By having an Exercise Physiologist come to visit we are able to ensure that you are working at the right level to improve your symptoms and practice exercises that you are unable to do on your own

    • Show you some techniques to reduce breathlessness when it does occur 

      • We can show you breathing exercises to help manage your breathlessness 
      • As your lung efficiency and overall fitness improves you will be able to do more before your breathlessness occurs however it still will be present as you are working hard
      • Pursed lip breathing is a great method to help stop breathless when it does occur

    When To Get Help

    • The earlier the better to help with managing your COPD symptoms 
    • Incorporating exercise into your daily routine can assist with making your everyday life more manageable 
    • Experiencing a decrease in your COPD symptoms will make it easier to engage socially, complete household chores and participate in activities you enjoy

     

    Where To Start

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Can I use my Home Care Package/Support at Home Program to access Exercise Physiology?

    Yes- we can contact you provider to organise services through your package. We are able to fit in around current budgets to provide an effective service without impacting your current plan.

    Our services under the Support at Home Program do not have any copayments attached and are a fantastic preventative option that help to reduce condition progress and provide people with a way to improve their health and mobility

    How Does Exercise Physiology reduce symptoms?

    During our initial appointments we complete a series of tests looking at:

    • Balance
    • Grip Strength
    • Walking
    • Standing up from a chair(leg strength)
    • Stair use(if possible)
    • Aches and Pains 
    • Other relevant physical tests 

    These tests give us an indicator of what area needs to be addressed and helps to identify what exercises will help the most.

    By prioritising a few exercises it helps to improve exercise adherence, reduce frustration and improve the reward for effort

    All of these tests can be improved over time through exercise and they provide an in depth overview of someones physical condition

    How often do Exercise Physiology Visits occur?

    We will recommend the best option based on the testing results completed in the initial assessment 

    We see most of our clients on average either weekly or once per fortnight. However we are happy to discuss options based on individual circumstances

    What does a normal Exercise Physiology Home Visit look like?

    During an exercise physiology visit you can expect to compete a number of exercises working on improving the areas you need to improve

     

    Initial Assessment 

    Questions regarding

    • Medical Conditions
    • Aches and Pains 
    • Medications 
    • Falls History
    • Current Exercise Levels

    Some tests looking at:

    • Balance
    • Walking 
    • Sitting and Standing 
    • Stair Use 
    • Grip Strength
    • Aches and Pains

    From this we recommend how often you would benefit from our services, plus the 3 most important exercises to improve

    These tests are done every 6 weeks to monitor improvement and to identify other areas that need to be worked on

     

    During a normal session we usually complete:

    • 5-6 exercises working on improving
    • These exercises are progressed over the sessions 
    • We update any home exercises as needed
    • Practice completing harder exercises that require supervision eg balance