If you or a loved one have asthma, Bronchitis, Emphysema, or get short of breath from everyday activities,
breathing exercises will help you function with your day to day living.
That’s something we Occupational Therapy Practitioners specialize in – increasing peoples ability to perform Activities of Daily Living.
COPD is a severe lung disease associated with airflow obstruction.
Asthma, also a disease that affects your airways affects all ages. There are currently 20 million Americans with Asthma.
COPD, a more serious and generally fatal disease can be slowed down with proper treatment and reduce the severity of your symptoms and can increase your lifespan.
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and it affects your lungs and airways. Chronic means you will have this condition the rest of your life. So what can you do to manage it?
My patients who have COPD often mistakenly believe that they can’t exercise. Exercise is essential because the less active you are, the weaker your muscles get. Weak muscles need MORE oxygen and this causes a chain reaction of being short of breath. By practicing a COPD program, following a good nutrition plan and doctors plan of care, some patients who were on continuous Oxygen Therapy were able to come off the oxygen and just use it as needed with their Doctors approval. I measured their oxygen intake with an oxpulsimetor before and after the breathing exercises and their oxygen gradually increased to a normal level.
Did you know your diaphragm is a muscle?
This muscle, crucial for breathing, can be made stronger and help you get more air into your lungs to increase your lung capacity. When you strengthen your breathing muscles with exercises and
breathing exercises, you can have some control over COPD instead of it taking charge of you.