"People who have received lung transplants often have weak
muscles and limited endurance due to their sedentary lifestyle
before their transplant and the drugs they need to take after
surgery," explains lead author Dr. Daniel Langer, a Belgian
expert in respiratory diseases and rehabilitation. Recent
research by the authors showed that transplant patients often
remain inactive after surgery. Up to a half also develop
illnesses such as osteoporosis, high cholesterol levels and
diabetes, with around 90% developing high blood pressure. It is
well known that these health problems can be prevented by a
physically active lifestyle. "We were keen to explore whether an
exercise training intervention would be capable of partially
reversing these remaining limitations in muscle function,
enabling patients to improve exercise capacity and increase
their participation in daily activities." Forty patients who had
not experienced complications after single or double lung
transplants were randomly allocated to two groups, w