CUMBERLAND — Dr. Javeria Anwar of UPMC Western Maryland has made it her mission to bring attention to the underutilization of pulmonary rehabilitation for those who need it in the region.
Anwar, who specializes in pulmonology, has been working to get the word out about the services offered by the hospital.
“It’s a really good secret when it shouldn’t be. If you look at the data worldwide, for some reason pulmonary rehab is very underutilized,” Anwar said. “And in the last eight years that I’ve been practicing, I think I’ve only had one patient say that it didn’t do them any benefit. Everyone else comes out of it feeling like they can walk more, do more.”
Anwar recommends pulmonary rehab for those prior to and following cardiac surgeries. Additionally, it can be recommended to those with COPD, asthma, lung disease and fibrosis to optimize their lung capacity and ability to do everyday tasks.
“A lot of the lung problems are chronic diseases, so what you have to do is manage the symptoms with the medications,” she said. “But you also have to optimize your strength and your muscle strength and your endurance to help mitigate the fact that your lungs are not as healthy as they used to be, so you have to compensate for that by making your muscles a lot stronger.”
The rehab program is approximately twice weekly for 12 weeks, but Anwar said it can be adjusted based on each person’s needs.
The program includes monitored upper and lower body exercises to help build and strengthen the lungs.
Beyond exercise, Anwar said the program improves a person’s ability to do housework, laundry and tasks like walking to the mailbox or up the stairs.
“That’s the goal with pulmonary rehab — to teach you these exercises, get you stronger, manage your quality of life and be able to improve the ability to walk, to exercise or perform daily tasks and obviously that will improve your mental health as well,” Anwar said.
For more information, visit https://www.upmc.com/locations/hospitals/western-maryland/services/pulmonology or https://www.livebetter.org/directory.