Cardiopulmonary
What is the cardiopulmonary system?
The stars of your cardiopulmonary system are your heart, lungs, blood vessels (arteries and veins), and breathing airways. It’s main job is to keep the blood moving, load the blood cells up with beneficial nutrients, and take the unwanted stuff off of the blood cells to get it out of the body. Studying the cardiopulmonary system involves also learning about how it interacts with everything else in your body. Most of the anatomy for this system is relatively clear to see, unlike neuroscience where the structures kind of blend together. This means it’s easier to see physical abnormalities with imaging techniques and easier to make surgical repairs.
Not-so-fun-fact: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
Board #1 from our cardiac midterm study session - shout out to one of my Integrated Clinical Experience team mates, Chase, for putting all of this together!
Why do PTs need to know about it?
All physical therapists get people up and moving, which means putting stress on the cardiopulmonary system. It’s very important for them to understand what effects different exercises and movements have on people, according to their unique cardiopulmonary conditions. As students, we also learn about different diseases, like COPD and heart failure, and how they impact the movement system - the PT’s specialty!
Often times PTs are the first healthcare provider to have someone sit up or walk after a major life-threatening event (this is where you’ll find physical therapists working in various types of ICUs!) and it is super, super important for them to know what they’re doing here and which vitals to monitor. There are PTs that specialize in cardiopulmonary treatment or have a lot of experience in inpatient acute care settings. They typically have more knowledge and skills than other physical therapists about treating people with cardiopulmonary conditions. Some of the big things PTs consider when choosing a treatment are what medications people are on (because they can impact vitals), what surgical interventions a patient has had, the patient’s medical history, and their intended plan of care (they may choose different exercise programs if someone is trying to get a transplant vs going home vs getting a temporary plan, etc).
Board #2 from our cardiac midterm study session, with another shout out to Chase!
If you’d like to know anything else about what we learn in our cardiopulmonary course, drop your question in the comments below!
