Respiratory training can help lung patients
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For people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema, a simple home-based training routine aimed at the muscles used for breathing, led to a significant improvement in exercise endurance and other benefits, Dutch researchers.
Dr. Ralph J. H. Koppers of Medical Center Leeuwarden and colleagues note that impaired exercise capacity is often a problem for COPD patients. Respiratory muscle endurance training based on increasing the level of carbon dioxide breathed can be helpful but requires complicated and expensive equipment.
The researchers developed a simplified approach in which a tube connected to a mouthpiece increases dead space and prompts rebreathing of exhaled carbon dioxide, according to their report in the medical journal Chest
