A retrospective study by IDIBELL and the Bellvitge University Hospital shows that starting physical rehabilitation of patients admitted to the UCRI with severe COVID-19 before seven days reduces hospitalization time
A retrospective study of patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the UCRI of Bellvitge University Hospital between March and May 2020 showed that those who started physical rehabilitation within seven days of admission significantly reduced their hospital stay.
Physiotherapy for patients phisical rehabilitation admitted to the UCRI is widely recommended. However, during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of contagion among health personnel, added to the lack of data on the best time to start rehabilitation and the procedure to follow, led to not following a standardized protocol and carrying out very diverse approaches.
Now, a study by the Pneumology research group at IDIBELL and the Bellvitge University Hospital published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine has evaluated the impact and safety of early physical rehabilitation. The study that includes 159 patients shows that patients with an early approach reduce hospital stay to an average of 19 days, while those who start rehabilitation after seven days of admission have an average stay of 34 days.
The work also shows that none of the physiotherapists involved in early rehabilitation were infected with the coronavirus. No adverse effects of early rehabilitation were identified in patients.