Practical recommendations for physical rehabilitation in patients with severe COVID-19 in intensive care units

Abstract

The article presents a literature review on physical rehabilitation (PR) in patients with the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) of extremely severe, severe and moderate course in acute (in the intensive care unit, ICU) and subacute (immediately after transfer from the ICU) stage of the disease in a pandemic. The authors defined the aims and principles of medical rehabilitation assistance, the appropriate amount of PR exercises, and the mechanism of interaction between the rehabilitation staff and the ICU, in conditions of increased risk of infection of medical personnel. PR programs and therapeutic exercises complexes for different clinical situations (patient models) are proposed, depending on the severity of the patient’s condition, medical care conditions and the need for various respiratory support.