Pulmonary Tele-Rehabilitation in Patients (Post Covid-19) With Respiratory Complications: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has resulted in a growing population of individuals recovering from SARS-CoV. Although the evidence is limited, observational data suggest that patients who suffer from COVID may experience symptoms long after recovery from acute illness, referred as “long COVID,” post-COVID syndrome or “post-COVID conditions”.The recovery from COVID-19 disease is very different but many features appear to be similar to recovery from other viral illnesses. Our study aims to investigate and validate the effectiveness of respiratory rehabilitative therapeutic program in patients with chronic COVID.Objective: To analyse the effects of a Pulmonary Tele-rehabilitation Program in Covid-19 Outpatients who received Pulmonary Rehab (Breathing and Therapeutic Exercises) compared to those who only received conventional care. Method: A Randomized Controlled Trial study has been undertaken.30 Post COVID Patients meeting inclusion criteria were randomly allocated into two groups. Experimental Group received therapeutic protocol and Controlled Group received conventional care. Duration for the study was 6 weeks. The Significant and relevant tests for this study are Modified Borg Dyspnoea Rating Scale and Fatigue Severity Scale. Result: The statistical analysis was carried out using‘t- test’ to determine the effectiveness of breathing and therapeutic exercises. Results showed that the patients in experimental group recovered more rapidly and demonstrated independence in their ADL without any further complications.Females were more fatigued than males, therefore benefitted more from the therapeutic program. Conclusion: This study demonstrated improvement in patients who received the therapeutic program. No telerehab patients required additional oxygen supplementation or any medical care. Telerehabilitation allowed a valuable service to patients with COVID-19 and helped them to rehabilitate themselves without having to leave their home.