Should Your Senior Exercise if She Has COPD?

By Marina Pink | March 5, 2020 |

If your senior has COPD, she may still want to try to exercise. Exercise can help to strengthen her lungs as well as the other systems in her body. Because of her COPD, she’ll want to do the right types of exercise and avoid overdoing it.

Elder Care in Encino CA: Exercise with COPD?

Does Your Senior Feel up for Exercising?

For some people with COPD, exercising is much more difficult than they expect it to be, even when they start out slowly and carefully. Talk to your elderly family member about how she feels about the idea of exercising and what she wants to gain from exercise. If she doesn’t feel as if it’s something she can do, she may be right, even if that’s a topic you revisit some other time.

Talk to Her Doctor Before Starting Any Exercise Plan

Most of the time you’ll have a conversation about exercise with your senior because her doctor has already brought it up. But if this is a new idea for your senior, make sure to talk with her doctor first. Even people with severe COPD can benefit from exercise if it’s the right amount and type of exercise. Your senior’s doctor can help her to determine what the best course of action is for her.

She’ll Need a Plan

Any good exercise routine starts with a plan. Your elderly family member might want to consider starting out with pulmonary rehabilitation. This is a combination of physical therapy and other treatments and educational components that helps her to get the most out of the exercise. As your senior’s body and her lungs become a little bit stronger, she may find that exercise helps her to have more energy and stamina than she did before.

Conservation of Energy Is Still a Big Deal

Even with improved energy levels, your senior still needs to be careful about how she expends her energy. People with COPD can experience exacerbations at any time and having the strength to deal with those can mean watching what she does at other times when she’s feeling stronger. Working with elderly care providers to have help around the house may be what she needs to hang onto the energy she does have.

There’s a lot to consider if your senior is planning to become more physically active, even with something as serious as COPD affecting her health. Work with her medical team to make sure that she’s as safe as possible while she exercises.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Elder Care in Encino, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Care Help. Serving All of Los Angeles County. Call Us Today (888) 989-7388

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Marina Pink

Owner at Home Care Help

Marina Pink is the Owner at Home Care Help. Home Care Help is an innovator in providing services in a caring and professional manner. We have an exceptional history, spanning twenty-three years, of providing care to people in moments that matter most. It is our utmost priority to address every need in a timely manner; and, it is our goal, above all else, to give the level of support that enables our residents to have as much independence as possible with care and respect.