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Exercise supports recovery of patients with long COVID

Patients with lasting symptoms of COVID-19 who completed a six week, supervised rehabilitation programme demonstrated significant improvements in exercise capacity, respiratory symptoms, fatigue and cognition.

These were the findings of researchers at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, a partnership between Leicester's Hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University.

The study followed thirty patients who took part in face-to-face exercise rehabilitation classes twice a week over a period of six weeks. The programme included aerobic exercise, such as walking or using a treadmill, strength training of the arms and legs, and educational discussions to support symptom management based upon the information on the ‘Your COVID Recovery platform’ (www.yourcovidrecovery.nhs.uk).

Researchers found a statistically significant improvement in exercise capacity, as measured by scores of distance travelled and ability to keep going without a rest using incremental and endurance shuttle-walking tests. They also found that fatigue improved by 5 points on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Fatigue Scale over the six-week period. In addition, participants demonstrated improvement in their overall wellbeing and cognition, as measured by standardised clinical assessment tools.

Participants were referred through a hospital discharge follow-up telephone assessment, at a face-to-face COVID-19 clinic assessment, or via their GP. Individuals were offered the opportunity to take part if they displayed physical and/or psychological symptoms that were affecting their daily activities. 

Dr. Enya Daynes, specialist pulmonary rehabilitation and research physiotherapist at Leicester's Hospitals and lead author of the study, said: "We know that COVID-19 survivors present with a wide variety of symptoms and that a one-size-fits-all approach to managing these would not be appropriate. However, there are some overlap between the needs of COVID-19 survivors and patients who have accessed pulmonary rehabilitation [PR] for other conditions, such as COPD. So we modified our well-established PR course for COVID-19 survivors and measured their symptoms to assess whether the programme could be of potential benefit.

"We found there were significant improvements in clinical outcomes of walking capacity and symptoms of fatigue, cognition and respiratory symptoms, factors that patients tell us most affect their quality of life."

Professor Sally Singh, head of cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation at Leicester's Hospitals, professor at the University of Leicester and senior author of the paper, said: "This adapted rehabilitation programme for individuals following COVID-19 has demonstrated promising improvements in clinical outcomes. There were no drop-outs due to worsening symptoms and the high completion rate suggests that patients found it to be an acceptable treatment. 

"There has been concern that rehabilitation may worsen or trigger symptoms of post-viral fatigue and that exercise therapy may exacerbate fatigue. The exercise element of this programme is progressed by staff experienced in delivering pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation programmes in line with patient's symptoms throughout the programme. Our results did not show that fatigue worsened among the group of patients on the study, and that many of their symptoms improved. This suggests an adapted pulmonary rehabilitation courses can be part of a spectrum of patient-centred and holistic approaches to treating the many different presentations of lasting COVID symptoms."

The paper 'Early experiences of rehabilitation for individuals post-COVID to improve fatigue, breathlessness exercise capacity and cognition: a cohort study' is published in the journal, Chronic Respiratory Disease.

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Upcoming Events

Central Sterilising Club - Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Crowne Plaza at Gerrard’s Cross
15th April 2024 – 16th April 2024

DECON UK 2024

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
17th April 2024

Infection Prevention & Control

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
23rd - 24th April 2024

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Coventry Building Society Arena
16th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Birmingham

Millennium Point, Birmingham
18th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Exeter

University of Exeter
22nd June 2024

Access the latest issue of Clinical Services Journal on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

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