A common misconception among respiratory patients is that they should avoid cardiovascular or physical activity. The opposite is actually true. Patients who suffer from respiratory problems should be working with a physiotherapist to help improve their health. Vancouver physiotherapist Dr. Kobza is experienced in how to treat respiratory conditions. These are the benefits that patients can look forward to with their physiotherapy visits.
Physiotherapy Treatments
Respiratory physiotherapy is a type of physical therapy directed at patients who suffer from respiratory problems, including asthma, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, chronic bronchitis, as well as many others. Patients who do not have these conditions, but who have experienced an illness that has affected their respiratory system can also benefit from physiotherapy.
Treatments for these patients include:
- Therapeutic exercise
- Chest clearance exercises
- Education on self-management
- Rehabilitation following surgery
- Postural drainage
- Breathing exercises
- Long-term management of chronic conditions
The type of treatment that you will receive depends greatly on the concern that you are battling with and varies greatly patient to patient.
How it Helps
Physiotherapy benefits patients in many different ways. This is how physiotherapy can help specific respiratory conditions.
- Asthma sufferers: Beneficial for both children and adult asthma sufferers, physiotherapy works to increase exercise tolerance and capacity. It can also help strengthen your cardiorespiratory fitness, which might have been negatively affected by asthma.
- Emphysema and COPD: Physiotherapy has been shown to reduce the mortality in patients who suffer from emphysema and COPD.
- Cystic Fibrosis: Working with a physiotherapist can help patients who suffer from cystic fibrosis get a handle on the symptoms and live easier with it. Dr. Kobza can help patients with physical activity to help clear airways from mucus, keeping it out of the lungs.
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation: If you were in the hospital due to an illness or other condition that affected your breathing, going through a physiotherapist for rehabilitation will encourage overall healing throughout your body as well as increasing your capacity while reducing breathlessness and fatigue, getting you back up where you want to be.
- Breathing in an Emergency: Naturally your physiotherapist is not going to be with you if you experience a breathing emergency, such as an asthma attack, but your physiotherapist can teach you how you should breathe in an emergency, reducing the frequency of the attacks and keeping them from turning into a real emergency.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy stated that there is a 36.4% reduction in respiratory exacerbations when a patient completes his or her physiotherapy.
Other Improvements
Beyond helping with specific respiratory problems, physiotherapy can improve other facets of a patient’s life.
- Quality of Life: Generally speaking, physiotherapy can help improve the quality of life as well as the cardiorespiratory fitness of patients who suffer from respiratory problems. As is the case with everyone, exercise improves the body both on the outside and the inside.
- Relearn how to Exercise: One of the biggest concerns that a physiotherapist can help you with is relearning how to exercise if you had to stop for a while on account of an illness or respiratory concern.
- Oxygen Supply: Reobtaining the ability to exercise will have added benefits to your body, including an improved supply of oxygen. Being able to take in bigger and deeper breaths will bring more oxygen into your blood system, improving your overall health.
Physiotherapy goes beyond your gross motor functions and has the ability to specifically target respiratory concerns that might be affecting you. Ultimately, physiotherapy can improve you quality of life. Call the office of Dr. Kobza today to schedule your first appointment and get started on your journey back to health.