Inspiratory Muscle Training Does Not Improve Clinical Outcomes in 3-week COPD Rehabilitation

Inspiratory Muscle Training Does Not Improve Clinical Outcomes in 3-week COPD Rehabilitation

The value of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is unclear. The RIMTCORE (Routine Inspiratory Muscle Training within COPD Rehabilitation) randomised... read more

Barriers and Facilitators to Early Rehabilitation in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Barriers and Facilitators to Early Rehabilitation in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Using a theoretically driven approach, this study identified important barriers and facilitators to early rehabilitation in ICU patients. In particular, the domains of social influences and behavioral regulation were not... read more

Inside the lives of America’s last iron lung patients

Inside the lives of America’s last iron lung patients

Long after the polio vaccine stemmed the disease that once infected thousands of people, a handful of U.S. polio survivors still rely on decades-old iron lung machines to stay alive-and must overcome increasing obstacles... read more

Animal-assisted Activity in the ICU

Animal-assisted Activity in the ICU

Animals are being introduced into hospital settings in ever-increasing numbers. Emerging literature suggests that incorporating trained animals to assist with medical care and rehabilitation therapies can promote patient... read more

An Expert Consensus Statement on Physical Rehabilitation After Hospital Discharge

An Expert Consensus Statement on Physical Rehabilitation After Hospital Discharge

A consensus-based framework for optimal physical therapy (PT) after hospital discharge is proposed. Future research should focus on feasibility testing of this framework, developing risk stratification tools and validating... read more

Can Early Rehabilitation on the General Ward After an ICU Stay Reduce Hospital Length of Stay in Survivors of Critical Illness?

Can Early Rehabilitation on the General Ward After an ICU Stay Reduce Hospital Length of Stay in Survivors of Critical Illness?

An early rehabilitation program in survivors of critical illness led to an earlier discharge from the hospital, improved functional recovery, and was also cost-effective and safe. In the per-protocol analysis, length of... read more

COPD Patients Who Live Alone are Less Active

COPD Patients Who Live Alone are Less Active

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who live with a spouse, partner, or other caregiver are more active than patients who live alone, and are also more likely to participate in pulmonary rehabilitation... read more

Anabolic and Anticatabolic Agents in Critical Care

Anabolic and Anticatabolic Agents in Critical Care

Profound metabolic derangements occur in critically ill patients; this hypermetabolic response is a major contributor to adverse outcomes. Despite the pharmacological therapies currently available to counteract this devastating... read more

Low Levels of Physical Activity During Critical Illness and Weaning

Low Levels of Physical Activity During Critical Illness and Weaning

Physical rehabilitation can benefit critically ill patients during ICU admission, but routine clinical practice remains inconsistent nor examined in prolonged mechanical ventilation patients transferred to a specialist ventilator... read more

Muscle Mass and Physical Recovery in ICU: Innovations for targeting of Nutrition and Exercise

Muscle Mass and Physical Recovery in ICU: Innovations for targeting of Nutrition and Exercise

New innovative techniques are demonstrating promise to target recovery from PICS utilizing a combination of objective LBM and metabolic assessment, targeted nutrition interventions, personalized exercise interventions for... read more

Draft quality standard on rehabilitation after a critical illness

Draft quality standard on rehabilitation after a critical illness

New guideline to be published in 2017. We've published a draft quality standard on rehabilitation after a critical illness: Quality standard consultation. You can now comment on this draft quality standard. Closing date... read more

Addition of vitamin B12 to exercise training improves cycle ergometer endurance in advanced COPD patients

Addition of vitamin B12 to exercise training improves cycle ergometer endurance in advanced COPD patients

Vitamin B12 is essential in the homocysteine, mitochondrial, muscle and hematopoietic metabolisms, and its effects on exercise tolerance and kinetics adjustments of oxygen consumption (V'O2p) in rest-to-exercise transition... read more

Management of COPD exacerbations: a European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society guideline

Management of COPD exacerbations: a European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society guideline

This document provides clinical recommendations for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. This recommendation places a high value on improving clinical outcomes and a lower value on the burden... read more

Factors influencing physical activity and rehabilitation in survivors of critical illness

Factors influencing physical activity and rehabilitation in survivors of critical illness

Eighty-nine papers were included. Five major themes and 28 sub-themes were identiļ¬ed, encompassing: (1) patient physical and psychological capability to perform physical activity, including delirium, sedation, illness severity,... read more