J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  1998 Jun;22(3):705-710.

Short-Term Inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Pneumoconiosis

• Ryu SY
• Park CB
• Lim JK
• Lee H
• Yu HJ
• Cho KH

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation treatment program including inspiratory muscle training and reconditioning exercise in pneumoconiosis patients. METHOD: Thirty pneumoconiosis patients have undergone a 3-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program. The program included a inspiratory muscle strengthening, relaxation technique and reconditioning exercise such as walking and upper extremity strengthening. The effectiveness of treatment was evaluated by a pulmonary function test, 6-minute walk distance and 150 mm-visual analog dyspnea scale before and after the program.
RESULTS
After the 3-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program, there was a significant increase in 6-minute walk distance(p<0.01) and a significant decrease in 150 mm-visual analog dyspnea scale(p<0.01). However the pulmonary function test showed no significant change.
CONCLUSION
We concluded that the short-term inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program can improve the exercise tolerance by reduction of dyspnea and increase of walk distance, and ultimately increase the quality of life in pneumoconiosis patients.

Keyword

Pneumoconiosis; Pulmonary rehabilitation; Walk distance; Dyspnea

MeSH Terms

Dyspnea
Exercise Tolerance
Humans
Inpatients*
Pneumoconiosis*
Quality of Life
Rehabilitation*
Relaxation
Respiratory Function Tests
Upper Extremity
Walking