Post COVID-19 rehabilitation

There are still so many people who are impacted by the COVID-19 side effects several months after having overcome the disease. The most common persistent symptoms include:

• • fatigue

  • dyspnoea

  • chest and back pain

  • muscle pain and loss

  • reduced joint mobility

Luckily, everything has a solution, and in this article we are going to talk about post COVID-19 rehabilitation with physiotherapy.

It is always best to prevent than to cure. The correct exercises with good technique can solve most of your health problems, such as the persistent back pain and headache that are so common today. In the vast majority of cases, staying active helps us solve problems such as these. The importance of regular exercise and active lifestyle can never be stressed enough. These activities can include walking for at least half an hour a day, swimming in the sea or in the pool, riding a bicycle (without resistance for knee problems) and gradually increasing the intensity of those activities. Also, physical activity helps prevent osteopenia and osteoporosis along with sunbathing.

On the other hand, we are used to visiting the physiotherapist only when we are experiencing acute or chronic pain. Due to this chronic pain along with bad posture and unhealthy habits, the patient is compensating with other parts of the body until reaching a critical point. These cases include several pathologies rather than just one, are more difficult to treat and take longer until the patient can fully recover. So the best option is to practice regular physical exercises, especially stretching, and visit your physiotherapist on a more regular basis.

Therefore, if you are one of those people who suffer from back, muscle or joint pain, physiotherapy can lead to a faster and more effective recovery. At the same time, your physiotherapist can not only help you with treatment, but can also recommend you good habits for sports and daily activities.

In addition, our physiotherapist recommends the FISSIOS App, where you can find numerous exercises for recovery. This App is endorsed by the Spanish Association of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR). You can download it for iOS or for Android.

Good post-COVID-19 rehabilitation should include a gradual increase in physical activity, a healthy and balanced diet, and a good sleep quality. As for physical exercises, the best option is to personalise the exercises together with your physiotherapist.

You can also consult this document which includes basic breathing exercises (pages 2 and 3). It may be helpful for those who have had pulmonary complications during the course of their illness.

COVID-19 affects all the systems of our body, not only the immune system. Because of this, it can be difficult to keep up with the activities you used to enjoy before getting ill, due to a decreased breathing capacity. The recovery process should be gradual, resting periodically and increasing little by little your respiratory capacity. All this would prevent muscle loss, which would otherwise leave you much more vulnerable and prone to all kinds of diseases and increasing the risk of injury.