What is restrictive lung disease?

The chest wall is vital to the mechanical action of breathing. It includes the bony structures (ribs, spine, sternum), respiratory muscles (the organs in your body that help you breathe), and nerves that connect the central nervous system to the respiratory muscles. If you have restrictive lung disease, it’s likely that your breathing is restricted, and you may have long-term respiratory failure. The most common restrictive lung disorders that lead to respiratory failure are thoracoplasty, scoliosis and/or kyphoscoliosis.

Symptoms of respiratory failure include:

• Dyspnoea (shortness of breath during activities)
• Orthopnoea (shortness of breath while lying down)
• Peripheral edema (leg or ankle swelling)
• Repeated chest infections
• Morning headaches
• Fatigue
• Poor sleep quality
• Loss of appetite