2.2. Participants
Patients receiving physiotherapy while hospitalized at the department of Pulmonology or Internal Medicine were recruited by their physiotherapist and were asked for consent to be contacted by a researcher. The researcher provided patients with verbal and written information about the study. After a 24 h interval, the researcher reached out to the patient once more and secured written informed consent before commencing the study. Data processing confidentiality and participant anonymity were assured. Patients were eligible if they met the following inclusion criteria: aged between 18 and 75 years, receiving physiotherapy while hospitalized at the department of Pulmonology or Internal Medicine, able to walk independently two weeks before admission as reported on the Functional Ambulation Categories scale (FAC > 3) [