Abstract
A 9 week pulmonary rehabilitation program was successfully administered to a 38-year-old female who had had lymphangiomyomatosis with severe respiratory failure.
The program contained breathing techniques, training for activity of daily living (ADL), cycle ergometer and gait practice, and rehabilitation training of skeletal muscle . The trainingload was increased gradually beginning with low level techniques while monitoring the heartrate and pulse oxymeter. The criteria to terminate exercise were SpO2 ‹85% and HR› (210-0.65×age×0.75).
At the beginning, she couldn't walk, but after 9 weeks of exercises, her training program reached 5 watts of cycle ergometer for 10 minutes, gait at the speed of 18 meters/minute for 10 to 15 minutes, and muscle training of her extremities.
With this efficient training program, improvement of her ADL and exercise endurance were obtained, and her 6 minute walking distance increased from 27 meters to 141 meters.
She is now waiting for a lung transplantation, but we have noticed that this program requires some re-evaluations and corrections according to the progress of her disease.
