Physiotherapy

What to expect when attending clinic for a drug trial:

If you are attending outpatients clinic for a drug trial, your CF Physiotherapist will arrange a suitable date and time with you to conduct this. Your Physiotherapist will liaise with the medical team and organise a prescription to be sent to the pharmacy at UHL. Before your trial, please attend the pharmacy department to collect the prescribed medication.  

If indicated, you will be reminded to bring your nebuliser machine with you to the appointment. If prescribed a bronchodilator, you will be asked to bring this with you to your appointment.

During your drug trial appointment, we will check your observations are stable and complete lung function testing. We will talk you through what the medication is aiming to do, when and how to take it, when to stop it and how to store it. We will also inform you of any notable side effects. The Physiotherapist will repeat your lung function testing 20 minutes after you have completed your drug trial and feed back your results.

What to expect when attending for an exercise test:

An exercise test allows us to look at your heart, lungs and muscles whilst in a dynamic state. There are different formats of exercise testing. The CF physiotherapy team will be able to identify the right test for you whether that be a six minute walk test, a multi-stage shuttle walk test, or a Cardio Pulmonary Exercise (VO2max) test.

The six minute walk test involves walking between two cones for six minutes whilst you are being monitored. A multi-stage shuttle walk test may occur on a treadmill or on the flat, and involves gradually increasing speeds until a maximal level is reached. Your oxygen and heart rate are monitored. A cardio-pulmonary exercise test (CPET) allows us to comprehensively review your heart function, ventilation and muscle strength during a cycle-based maximal exercise test. All exercise tests will allow the physiotherapy team to help guide you in exercise prescription and work with you to improve your day-to-day function and quality of life.

The physiotherapy team will contact you in advance of your exercise test. Ideally an exercise test should be completed once a year at a minimum to get meaningful results on your CF. Please bring suitable clothing and trainers for the test, a bottle of water and a light snack. Please avoid a heavy meal within two hours of your test, and ideally avoid any caffeine if possible. Afterwards you will need to wait for a short period of monitoring. If you are diabetic please ensure your blood sugars are within a normal range prior to your test.