Three
significant studies addressing chest physiotherapy and
pulmonary rehabilitation, in bronchiectasis have been done
to date. In 2005, Newall et al. showed that in bronchiectasis,
pulmonary rehabilitation in addition to inspiratory
muscle training (IMT) improved exercise tolerance and
health status and this was maintained at 3 months after
completion of study.14 Addition of IMT was required to
maintain the longevity of the training effects.14 In a large
retrospective study in 2011, it was shown that pulmonary
rehabilitation in bronchiectasis led to significant improvement
in patients’ exercise tolerance and health status. This
was comparable to the improvements in the COPD group
receiving pulmonary rehabilitation.30 However, prospective
studies are needed to substantiate these findings. In 2009,
in a cross over RCT in non cystic bronchiectasis in patients
not practicing regular chest physiotherapy, we showed that
regular chest physiotherapy in comparison to no chest
physiotherapy, led to an improvement in exercise tolerance
and HRQoL.