Abstract
Background and Purpose: This case report describes the efficacy of 5 weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation intervention for a seventy-one-year-old subject with uncontrolled symptomatic asthma. This case reported aimed to investigate functional improvements seen in the individual after completing graded, supervised exercise as a component of pulmonary rehabilitation. Case Description: The patient was referred to pulmonary rehabilitation due to shortness of breath, general deconditioning, and fear of activity. A Six Minute Walk Test was administered before 5 weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation, during which there was a drop of O2 saturation from 98% to 91% on room air, a Rate of Perceived Exertion of 2 and a distance traveled of 336.8 m with no rest breaks at the end of the test. The patient participated in twice weekly pulmonary rehabilitation sessions for a total of 10 sessions in 5 weeks. Each 100-minute session consisted of graded exercise on aerobic exercise equipment along with 10 minutes of light general strengthening and prescheduled mixed-diagnosis patient education class that consisted of a variety of topics. Additionally, patient education on use of a respiratory muscle trainer for 20 minutes a day at home was administered. Outcome: At the post intervention Six Minute Walk Test the patient’s O2 saturation maintained between 98-99% throughout the test, Rate of Perceived Exertion was 0, and distance traveled was 412. 1 m. The patient’s aerobic exercise tolerance improved from 18 minutes to 40 minutes with increased resistance across all modalities and the patient reported a large decrease in the degree that her symptoms affected her quality of life as assessed via outcome questionnaires. The patient had post intervention scores of a 4 out of 120 on the SOBQ, a 4 out of 40 on the CAT, a 1 out of 4 on the MMRC and a 1 out of 27 on the PHQ-9. Discussion: The findings of this case report suggest that graded aerobic exercise is efficacious for severely asthmatic patients and should be considered in conjunction with pharmacotherapy in managing the disease.