Rehabilitation has been shown to enhance patient performance before and after lung transplantation, but limited data exist on its role during the immediate post-transplant phase in critical care units.

We conducted a single-center retrospective study. All adult patients who underwent bilateral transplantation for cystic fibrosis were included. Patients were followed from admission to discharge from critical care. All rehabilitation sessions were recorded. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the amount of mobilization performed by the patient in critical care, and functional performance at discharge.

We included 36 patients (21 males) with a median age of 29 years (IQR: 24.5–35.0) and a median critical care length of stay of 15 days (12.5–20). Patients performed a total of 388 sessions of rehabilitation. Out-of-bed mobilization started at a median of post-operative day 2.5 (IQR: 1.0–4.5), with the first walking session at day 3 (IQR: 2.0–4.5). A strong correlation was found between daily walking distance and functional performance, as measured by the 6-minute walk test, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.70 (95 % CI: 0.48–0.84).

After lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis, early initiated rehabilitation in critical care is feasible and can improve patients' functional performance. These findings are promising, but require validation in other lung transplant populations.