A new study offers encouraging news for older adults with chronic respiratory conditions who may struggle to access traditional gym-based rehabilitation programs. Researchers found that pulmonary rehabilitation using simple, minimal equipment was no less effective than expensive specialist gym programs for improving breathing, exercise capacity and quality of life.
The study followed 436 participants with a median age of 71.7 years who had chronic respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, interstitial lung disease and bronchiectasis. Half of the participants received traditional pulmonary rehabilitation using specialist equipment such as treadmills and weight machines, whereas the other half used minimal equipment, including walking circuits, body weight exercises, portable pedals and elastic resistance bands.
Members of both groups participated in supervised sessions twice weekly for eight weeks, combining one hour of exercise training with 45 minutes of education. The researchers measured improvements using the incremental shuttle walk test, which evaluates how far people can walk at increasing speeds, a key indicator of exercise capacity and daily functioning.
The study found that participants using minimal equipment achieved improvements just as effective to those using specialist gym equipment. Both groups showed significant improvements in exercise capacity, with the minimal equipment group walking about 81 feet farther and the gym group about 75 feet farther after completing the program.
Additionally, the study reported “no excess adverse events or costs were seen with intervention” using minimal equipment. Patient satisfaction was high in both groups, with more than 95% of participants in each study arm reporting they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their respective programs.
The researchers concluded that minimal equipment pulmonary rehabilitation “can expand the number of settings where PR can be provided, thus improving patient accessibility.”
The approach doesn’t require costly gym facilities, making it particularly valuable for underserved areas or people who cannot easily travel to specialized medical centers. For older adults facing breathing difficulties, this research suggests that effective rehabilitation could help bring life-improving treatment closer to home through community centers, smaller clinics or even adapted home programs.