COPD is a common disease characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The most common respiratory symptoms include dyspnea, cough and/or sputum. COPD has a high disability and mortality rate, and is prone to complications such as dyspnea and pulmonary heart disease, so it is important to keep the disease under control. At present, for patients with COPD, the most important is still medication, surgery and other medical means, this article mainly introduces the disease control methods other than medical measures.
Timely cessation of smoking to control further progression of the disease
Smoking is an important risk factor for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), at least 8O% of patients are smokers, and 15% to 20% of smokers will develop COPD. Timely smoking cessation is a very effective way to control the condition, and smoking cessation is beneficial to lung function. It has been found that even patients with airway obstruction and poor baseline lung function experienced relief after quitting smoking. Middle-aged smokers with declining lung function who are able to stop smoking have a reduced incidence of severe or fatal COPD. Smoking cessation also has an effect on patients’ respiratory symptoms, with the odds of cough, mucous sputum, wheezing, and shortness of breath significantly decreasing after cessation.
Perform appropriate breathing exercises
Breathing training techniques have been more widely used as an adjunctive therapy in the remission phase of COPD, and appropriate breathing training can help to delay disease progression, reduce or prevent acute exacerbations of the disease, improve patients’ quality of life, and save medical costs.
At present, respiratory training mainly includes specific respiratory muscle exercise and non-specific respiratory muscle exercise. The principle of idiosyncratic respiratory muscle exercise is mainly to increase the respiratory load, the simplest method is to blow up balloons, blow out candles, lip-contracted breathing and so on. Non-specific respiratory muscle exercise includes walking, jogging, swimming, climbing ladders and other sports.
There are many types of specific respiratory exercises, the common ones being lip-contraction breathing and abdominal breathing exercises. Lip contraction breathing, closed mouth through the nose inhalation, and then through the contraction of the lips, whistling-like slow exhalation for 4 seconds to 6 seconds, the degree of contraction of the lips during the exhalation of the patient’s own adjustments, do not be too large or too small. Abdominal breathing can be practiced in lying, sitting or standing position, in the way of inhalation and exhalation, with the hand on the chest and one hand on the abdomen, keeping the chest as immobile as possible, exerting a little force to press the abdomen when exhaling, and retracting the abdomen as much as possible, and then fighting against the pressure of the hand when inhaling to bulge up the abdomen. At the same time, it should be noted that the inhalation should be deep inhalation through the nose, and the exhalation should be slow exhalation with contracted lips, and the exhalation time should be 1 or 2 times longer than the inhalation time.
Balloon blowing is also a good breathing training method, and will not be boring, the patient can choose a capacity of 800 ml to 1000 ml balloon. Inhale deeply, then hold the balloon and try your best to blow the gas in the lungs into the balloon until no gas can be blown out. Practice for 3 to 5 minutes each time, 3 to 4 times a day for 20 days, and reduce the number of times or the training time for those who are physically weak.
Patients whose condition permits may also choose walking, jogging, swimming and other exercises for respiratory training, and learn to self-observe during exercise and not to exceed the maximum heart rate (maximum heart rate equals 170 minus age). Generally start from the lower exercise volume of the various breathing exercises, uniform low intensity continuous practice, and then the overall endurance exercise, when there is discomfort to stop the exercise immediately. Keep warm during exercise to prevent aggravation.
Avoid contact with harmful substances and infections
Patients with COPD also have a higher chance of developing infections in their lungs. Avoid contact with dust and air pollutants, wear protective masks when going out, and wash your hands frequently to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses. Vaccination is also an effective way to prevent infections. The flu vaccine and pneumonia vaccine can reduce the incidence of lower respiratory tract infections.