Pulmonary rehabilitation: an historical perspective.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a standard of care for patients with chronic lung disease. Through appropriate patient selection and assessment, exercise training, educational and psychosocial intervention, nutritional counseling, and breathing retraining, many benefits (e.g., reduction in level of dyspnea, improvement in exercise tolerance, improvement in health-related quality of life, and reduction in health care resource utilization) are gained by patients who have undergone rehabilitation. From the initial finding of improved patient's capabilities, to times of extreme skepticism and doubt, to the state of being a standard of care, pulmonary rehabilitation has undergone many periods of transformation over the last several decades. This review expands upon previous reviews of the history behind modern-day pulmonary rehabilitation.