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Cardiorespiratory physiotherapists help people breathe more easily, clear their chest and get moving again when the heart or lungs are the problem. You'll meet us at some of the toughest moments — on a ventilator in intensive care, recovering from surgery, or during a flare-up — but the need doesn't stop at the hospital doors. Inspire Clinic continues that care in the community: a one-stop shop for everything cardiorespiratory, close to home.
Across the whole journey
Cardiorespiratory physiotherapy runs the length of the care continuum. These are the points where it helps most:1,2,3,4
For people on ventilators or high-flow oxygen: clearing secretions, keeping the lungs open, and safe early mobilisation to protect muscle and speed recovery.
After illness or an operation: preventing chest complications and pneumonia, restoring lung volume, and getting you up and moving safely.
Building fitness and breathing capacity ahead of an operation so recovery is faster and complications fewer. See Pre-Surgical Rehabilitation.
Protecting the chest, easing pain-limited breathing, and rebuilding movement and strength. See Post-Surgical Rehabilitation.
When COPD, bronchiectasis, asthma or heart failure worsen: airway clearance, breathing control and a plan to recover and prevent the next one. See Recognising a Flare-up.
Ongoing, supervised programmes and day-to-day management once you're home — building capacity, confidence and independence. See Cardiorespiratory Rehabilitation.
Where Inspire Clinic fits — your community one-stop shop
Most cardiorespiratory physiotherapy happens in hospital. What often falls away is the care afterwards — when you're home, still breathless, still deconditioned, and unsure what to do next. That's the gap Inspire Clinic is built to fill.5
Outside the ICU and the hospital, we are a dedicated community service for everything cardiorespiratory — under one roof, close to home:
- Comprehensive assessment and a personalised plan;
- Airway clearance, breathing retraining and inspiratory muscle training;
- Supervised cardiorespiratory rehabilitation, and pre-/post-surgical programmes;
- Support with home oxygen, NIV (CPAP/BiPAP) and nebulised therapy;
- A clear day-to-day plan to stay well and act early on flare-ups.
The aim is continuity: picking up where the hospital left off and keeping you well at home, so you're less likely to end up back on the ward.
Support for your other conditions too
People with heart and lung conditions rarely have only one problem. Breathlessness sits alongside stiff joints, back pain, weakness or a neurological condition — and each affects the others. As physiotherapists, we treat the whole person, not just the chest: alongside your cardiorespiratory care we can help with musculoskeletal problems (back, neck, shoulders, joints and post-injury or post-operative recovery) and support neurological needs (balance, mobility, weakness and deconditioning), coordinating everything in one place.
Whether you've just left hospital, have a long-term heart or lung condition, or want to get fitter before surgery, Inspire Clinic can help. You don't need to wait for a crisis.
References & evidence base
- Schweickert WD, Pohlman MC, Pohlman AS, et al. Early physical and occupational therapy in mechanically ventilated, critically ill patients: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2009;373(9678):1874–1882.
- Bott J, Blumenthal S, Buxton M, et al. Guidelines for the physiotherapy management of the adult, medical, spontaneously breathing patient. Thorax 2009;64(Suppl 1):i1–i52.
- Boden I, Skinner EH, Browning L, et al. Preoperative physiotherapy for the prevention of respiratory complications after upper abdominal surgery (LIPPSMAck-POP): pragmatic, double blinded, multicentre randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2018;360:j5916.
- Puhan MA, Gimeno-Santos E, Cates CJ, Troosters T. Pulmonary rehabilitation following exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016;(12):CD005305.
- Alison JA, McKeough ZJ, Johnston K, et al. Australian and New Zealand pulmonary rehabilitation guidelines. Respirology 2017;22(4):800–819.
References are numbered in citation order (Vancouver/BMJ style) and were current at the time of writing. Guidelines are living documents — verify against the latest version before clinical use.
Everything starts with an assessment — your symptoms, breathing, exercise tolerance and daily function measured properly, so what follows is built on your lungs rather than an average.
Corrections: If something on this page is wrong, out of date or unclear, we want to know. Email reception@inspireclinic.au with the page name and what you believe is incorrect. Substantive corrections are made promptly, and the guide’s version and last-updated date are changed to reflect it.