‘Pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with lung-related issues post-Covid’
Hyderabad: Coronavirus disease can result in a large variety of chronic health issues such as impaired lung function, reduced exercise performance and diminished quality of life in recovering patients.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective in reducing symptoms and improving health status, and exercise tolerance of patients who experience lung-related issues even after testing negative for Covid-19 months ago.
According to Dr V V Ramana Prasad, Consultant Pulmonologist, at KIMS Hospital, one of the major complaints of post-Covid patients is breathlessness. “Difficulty in breathing, weakness or headache are the most common complaints. A recovered patient can experience breathlessness due to post-Covid lung fibrosis, allergic airway disease, anxiety hyperventilation or even bronchospasm, which mimics asthma. Such patients wouldn’t have any issues when resting or sleeping, however they might experience difficulties while walking or talking.”
Dr Prasad points out that the Covid recovery period is between one to three months. “For those suffering from lung fibrosis we will be prescribing antifibrotics. However, approximately 0.1 per cent of the severe patients will become completely Oxygen-dependent. Such patients might also require a bilateral lung transplant.”
Prolonged hospital admission or isolation can reduce the amount of exercise during Covid infection, thus resulting in muscle weakness, low exercise endurance, and fatigue.
Stressing the importance of physiotherapy for those requiring pulmonary rehabilitation, Dr Sudhindra Gupta, consultant, Lifestyle and Rehabilitation, KIMS Hospital says, “For patients requiring pulmonary rehabilitation, we generally include aerobic exercise, resistance training and breathing training.
For patients who are on oxygen support at home, we can go for Activity of Daily Life (ADL) training, which includes paced activities for basic physical needs, including personal hygiene or grooming, dressing, toileting, transferring or ambulating, and eating. Other than these, we also make the patients practice Active Cycle Breathing Technique (ACBT) and autogenic drainage to prevent secondary infections after recovery.”
Several patients have also turned to Yoga to improve their respiratory functions during the recovery period.
Pratibha Agarwal, founder director of Anahata Yoga Zone, suggests that the patient should start slowly. “You can start with simple Pranayama asanas. Breathing in and out deeply and consciously will also help such patients. Several other asanas such as Ustrasana, Supported Fish Bowl and Cat-Cow Stretch are good for people recovering from Covid.
In fact, stretching your arms to the left and right is also beneficial. The elderly patients, who cannot sit on the ground, can sit on the chair or sofa to do these asanas. Ideally, I suggest people to practice Yoga in the morning, but any other time of the day is also fine. Just 20-30 minutes of dedicated practice every day is enough for a speedy recovery,” she adds.
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