6 Essential Strategies To Help You Breathe Easier
Living Well With COPD: Expert Insights for Taking Control of Your Health
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, COPD, affects millions of Americans, making it difficult to breathe and turning everyday activities like climbing stairs, making the bed, or playing with grandchildren into real challenges. But therapists at Burke Rehabilitation® want you to know: COPD doesn’t have to stop you from living the life you want.
“Our job is to teach people how to live and thrive with a serious condition like COPD,” says Sue Raimondi, MS, OTR/L, Senior Occupational Therapist in the Inpatient Cardiopulmonary Unit at Burke. “We give them the tools, knowledge, and motivation to do the right exercises and manage their condition.”
“Many people tell me, ‘I thought COPD was a death sentence,’” says Victoria Leahy, PT, DPT, Senior Physical Therapist in the Outpatient Pulmonary Program, who is also the Coordinator of the Outpatient Pulmonary Program. “Instead, we help them focus on what they can do each day to build strength, conserve energy, pace themselves—and truly thrive.”
Understanding What’s Happening
One of the biggest challenges with COPD is what our therapists call the “downward spiral of shortness of breath.” When movement makes you short of breath, it’s natural to avoid being active. But that leads to deconditioning, which can make even the slightest movements cause even more breathlessness. “We want to avoid that,” Sue emphasizes.
She often uses a powerful demonstration to help people understand what COPD feels like. “Take a big deep breath in and exhale fully. Now take another deep breath, but only let out half the air, and then try to walk around. That’s what it’s like,” she explains. “People with COPD carry trapped carbon dioxide in their lungs, so every step feels difficult.”
Strategies for Breathing Easier
While there’s no cure for this chronic lung disease, and symptoms can vary, proper treatment and management can help people with COPD breathe easier and keep doing the things they love. In recognition of COPD Awareness Month, our experts share six essential strategies to help individuals at every stage of the illness, and their caregivers, live well with COPD.
1. Master Pulmonary Hygiene
Exercises and techniques to cleanse the lungs and keep the airways clear include staying properly hydrated, using devices like one called an Acapella to loosen secretions, and clearing mucus through controlled coughing, a combination of deep breathing and huffing. “Just as we wash our bodies regularly, people with COPD benefit from ‘washing’ the lungs to help clear them out,” explains Nicole Bartosch, PT, DPT, Inpatient Physical Therapist.
Victoria vividly remembers a beloved uncle who lived with COPD and dedicated time each morning to pulmonary hygiene, drinking a 20-ounce glass of water, practicing controlled coughing, and taking a steamy shower. “After his morning routine, you would never know he had lung disease,” she recalled. “But if he skipped it, he felt fatigued for the rest of the day.”
2. Conserve Your Energy Wisely
For people with COPD, Nicole often uses a car analogy: “Most of us wake up like a car with a full tank of gas. But with COPD, you’re not starting the day full, you might have only half a tank at best.” The key, she explains, is to use that energy strategically throughout the day. Sitting on a bath chair while showering, for instance, can help conserve energy for activities that matter most, like spending time with family.
Energy-conserving strategies also include keeping frequently used items within easy reach at waist-level. For instance, if you use a skillet every day to make eggs, don’t store it at the bottom shelf or overhead. Keep it on the counter. Victoria offers a simple comparison, “Think about your toothbrush. You use it every day, so you keep it on the sink, right at waist level.”
Nicole adds that using the right mobility aid can make a significant difference. “If a patient’s balance is fairly good, I often recommend a rollator because it allows them to take longer walks and rest when needed,” she says. It’s all about pacing yourself (which leads to #3).
3. Learn Your Limits
At Burke, we help patients living with lung conditions learn to move through life at a moderate pace—which may look different for everyone. This involves monitoring levels of breathlessness and perceived exertion, and making sure they don’t rise above a “moderate” level. Whether you’re making tea, walking to a restaurant, or exercising at the gym, pay attention to how your body feels. If your breathlessness increases, stop and slow down. “Those are your limits,” says Victoria. “Stay within them, and ask others to respect those limits, too.”
4. Set Goals That Matter to You
At Burke, each person’s individual goals guide their care plan. “Keeping in mind that you have only so much gas in your tank, what are the things that you want to be able to do?” Nicole asks her patients. “What matters most to you?”
If someone’s goal is pushing their grandchild on a swing, that’s what they practice in therapy. “We’ll work on activities like that.” Nicole explains. “For example, we might try practicing lifting heavier objects to ensure they can safely lift their grandchild.” Connecting therapy to personal goals, she adds, “helps people feel more empowered.”
5. Practice Oxygen Safety
For those who use supplemental oxygen, safety education covers everything from avoiding petroleum-based lip balms, which can ignite near oxygen, to managing oxygen lines to prevent falls. “We spend a lot of time helping patients understanding that being on oxygen doesn’t mean they’re confined to their homes,” Sue notes. Patients also learn about portable oxygen concentrators and how to plan outings safely.
6. Use Pursed Lip Breathing
This simple technique helps expel trapped carbon dioxide, creating more space for oxygen. “With pursed lip breathing, you’re helping your body release carbon dioxide to make room for oxygen, which makes it easier to breathe,” Sue explains. It’s a tool patients can use anytime, anywhere they feel short of breath.
Sue grew up with a father who suffered from emphysema and was devoted to helping him live his best life—just as she does now with her patients. She quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson’s definition of success, which has guided her career and resonates with anyone who works with people living with lung disease: “To know that even one person has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded.”
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