Exercising with PH

YOUR EXERCISE QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Carol Keen spent five years as a specialist physiotherapist in pulmonary hypertension, helping hundreds of people get fitter and stronger with the condition. And when we invited members to submit questions for her, so many came in that we’re having to spread them over two issues! Exercise is clearly a topic that’s important to many, so if moving more is top of your New Year's Resolution list, we hope you’ll find these answers useful.

Is exercising with PH safe, and why are we advised to do it?

CAROL: The answer to this is yes, exercise is safe. We know that because we have a lot of research around pulmonary hypertension and exercise, and also because as PH professionals, we’ve been getting our patients to do exercise and be more active over a number of years. We’ve seen the difference it can make to patients. It’s not just that exercise is safe, we also know that it can help patients to do more day to day, such as walking further without stopping, getting up the stairs without needing to pause, or being less short of breath at the top. We’ve seen patients who have been able to get back into other activities, play with their grandchildren, or get back into work as a result of the exercise they’ve been doing. So, it can improve quality of life. Exercise has lots of benefits for your mental as well as physical wellbeing, and it’s a really good way for patients to start to take some control of their condition. It is something you can manage yourself and a way that you can have input into your health and your wellbeing. Exercise is safe and it’s really beneficial for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Is it ok for me to get out of breath?

CAROL: One of the reasons people worry about exercising is because when they exercise, they might feel short of breath. And when you’ve got a condition like pulmonary hypertension, feeling short of breath can be worrying for you because it’s one of your symptoms. When you’re exercising, you are likely to feel short of breath, and in fact, if you’re exercising it is important that you feel short of breath because that is how you’re going to get fitter and stronger. It is important though to gauge and to manage how short of breath you are. When you’re exercising it’s important that you feel a little bit short of breath but that you can still chat. So, if you were out for a brisk walk or doing some exercise in your living room, and I was there with you, I might ask you how it is going. You’d be able to answer me, but your answer would be a little bit breathless. You might have to shorten your sentences a little bit or take some extra pauses as you catch your breath. That’s perfect; that's exactly the level of breathlessness you want to be at when exercising. If you are gasping or panting, or you can’t catch your breath to speak, then you are exercising too hard, and you need to slow down. If you’re not feeling breathless at all, then you are being ‘active’ but you’re not exercising.

What is the difference between ‘being active’ and ‘exercising’?

CAROL: People often get a little bit confused about the difference between being active and exercising.

Both are important, whether you are managing a long-term condition or not. Staying active is doing things that involve moving, getting about, and physical activities that you might do during the day. Generally, they shouldn’t make you breathless, and they shouldn’t increase your heart rate significantly; they should just keep you at a level pace.

Exercising is what gets your heart rate up, gets your breathing going, and gets you a little bit sweaty.

What counts as activity and what counts as exercise will be very individual, particularly for people with pulmonary hypertension.

For some patients, going for a walk might be exercise because it gets them out of breath, it gets their heart rate up and it gets them a bit sweaty. For other patients, who maybe have less symptoms, going for a walk might simply be an activity for them, and something they do as part of their routine day to day. Some people would be exhausted by walking around the shops. Some people would be able to go round the shops quite comfortably and that would be an activity for them. It’s very individual and you have to work out for yourself when you’re being active and when you’re exercising. Like I said, it is important to do both.

How much exercise should I actually be doing?

CAROL: The same rules and guidance applies to everyone, whether there is a health condition involved or not. We should aim to do 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity every week. Moderate intensity activity is, as I’ve described opposite, when you’re a little bit short of breath but you can still chat. Your heart rate will be a bit elevated, but it is not going very, very fast. At the moment you might be doing little or no exercise at all. If that is the case, I wouldn’t suggest you go out next week and aim to do 150 minutes straight away; gradually increase the amount you do, by five or ten per cent each week. If you’ve got quite severe PH, it might be that only small amounts of activity count for you as exercise. In that case, you might get up to 150 minutes quite easily. Anything that is a chunk of ten minutes or more counts towards your total, so you don’t have to be going out and doing an hour of exercise, and you don’t have to be going to the gym for 40 minutes. If you’re doing something that gets you a little bit out of breath for ten minutes or more then it counts towards your 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. The key is to work out what you are doing now and gradually build it up.

Carol spent five years working within the Sheffield Pulmonary Vascular Unit, with part of her role funded by the PHA UK.

Are there any specif ic exercises that I should or shouldn’t be doing if I have PH?

CAROL: The main thing is that the exercise you are doing is something you enjoy and that is accessible for you. That is the best form of exercise; everything else is pretty much on the table. There are no specific exercises that you shouldn’t do, but we would advise to avoid lifting anything heavy, and by that, I mean anything that makes you strain to lift. That is not just lifting weights at the gym, but it might also involve moving furniture around the house or carrying big bags of shopping. Anything that makes you strain or hold your breath to lift is something that might be a bit too heavy for you as somebody with pulmonary hypertension. Other than that, if you’re a little bit short of breath but can still breathe, you can still chat and you’re not feeling dizzy, and you’ve not got chest pain, then you’re ok to go and do your exercise. In terms of safety, the main principle is to start small and gradually build up the amount you are doing – whether that is the amount of time you are exercising for, or the intensity of your exercise. Start with things you know you can achieve and gradually build it up. That way you will stay motivated, but also keep within the boundaries of your limits.

NEXT ISSUE

Carol answers more of your questions, with topics including how to exercise with joint problems, walking, lung function, and how to keep motivated if fitness just isn’t your ‘thing’.