Certain rehabilitation training may improve dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study published in Medicine.
To conduct this study, researchers combed five databases (PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov) and analyzed 14 randomized, controlled trials with 18 interventions comprised of 860 participants with dyspnea who had a clinical diagnosis of COPD. The intervention measures included respiratory or expiratory muscles or upper limb (UL) or lower limb training, the researchers noted.
The researchers observed that muscle training significantly improved dyspnea during exercise and in the daily life of patients with COPD. Moreover, a subgroup analysis showed that trials utilizing respiratory muscle and UL trainings markedly improved dyspnea during exercise. Overall, the study demonstrated that respiratory muscle and UL trainings ameliorate dyspnea in the daily life of patients with COPD.
“There were some limitations that most of the subjects in this study were patients with moderate to severe COPD and were male, and the training period and duration were different. The analyses revealed that respiratory muscle and UL trainings can improve dyspnea in patients with COPD during exercise and in daily life,” the researchers concluded.
Keywords: COPD, dyspnea, muscle training
