Pulmonary rehabilitation is a therapeutic process, which entails taking a holistic approach to the welfare of the patient with chronic respiratory illness—most commonly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Pulmonary rehabilitation is considered essential throughout the lifetime management of patients with symptomatic chronic respiratory disease. It requires the coordinated action of a multidisciplinary healthcare team in order to deliver an individualised rehabilitation programme to best effect—incorporating multiple modalities, such as advice on smoking cessation, exercise training and patient self-management education, among others. As core components of pulmonary rehabilitation, exercise training and self-management education have been shown to be beneficial in improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic respiratory disease. Physical training can help to reduce the muscle de-conditioning that occurs when the activity of patients is restricted by their breathlessness and fatigue, and is often associated with an increase in patient HRQoL. HRQoL can also be improved by the use of self-management education, which is designed to provide the patient with the skills to manage the health consequences of their disease. In doing so, patients are better able to cope with disease symptoms, potentially leading to reduced healthcare costs.

A great deal of research has been conducted to try and fully define which patients will benefit most from pulmonary rehabilitation. Although progress has been made, many questions remain as to the best means of delivering rehabilitation, particularly with respect to the optimum programme of physical training and patient self-management education.