Introduction:
The purpose of the study is to present the forms of rehabilitation used in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in various centres. Widespread occurrence of COPD, significant disability, high treatment costs, permanently increasing and more profound knowledge about the pathogenesis and course of COPD lead to a comprehensive study of respiratory rehabilitation and physical therapy of the disease.

Methods:
The selected databases were Cochrane Library, Medline, PubMed, Embase. Clinical trials were analysed from the ClinicalTrials.gov database. The search was performed on July 20, 2017, with the following search terms: ‘COPD,’ ‘COPD exercises,’ COPD rehabilitation,’ ‘COPD physical activity,’ ‘COPD physical therapy.’

Results:
The share of the research on exercises for COPD cases amounts to 20% of the total number of publications (1984 references). The largest number of COPD studies proved to come from the PubMed database. In 2012, this number made up 3588 entries (135% increase over the previous 10 years).

Conclusions:
In evidence-based medicine databases, in the total number of the published research results pertaining to COPD, the proportion of studies on rehabilitation makes up 9.8–15.95%, and that of physical therapy constitutes 3.8–11.5%. Taking into consideration the conclusions of systematic reviews with reference to the key role of rehabilitation and physical therapy in the COPD patients’ treatment, close attention should be focused currently on the identification of indispensable components of respiratory rehabilitation and the evaluation of its efficacy.