POST COVID SYNDROME OR LONG COVID

By April 2021 more than 1.1 million Canadians had been infected by Covid 19.  According to a study by the WHO 21 % of people worldwide infected with the virus still suffered symptoms six months after the initial infection.

Luckily the majority of infected people recover quickly after experiencing only mild symptoms, then some recover gradually on their own with periods of feeling unwell, yet there a still a fair number of covid 19 sufferers who will require long term rehabilitation for one or maybe even two or more years and not just for a few weeks after the infection.

Drawing from what we have learned so far, the most classical symptoms are relapsing/ remitting fatigue, breathlessness, change of breathing patterns, chest pain, joint and muscle pain, cough, brain-fog, loss of taste and smell, gastro-intestinal issues as well as increased risk of damage to the lungs, heart and brain, stress and depression.  And then there are the already pre-existing co-morbidities that some people had prior to becoming infected. Sometimes these debilitating symptoms are experienced only months after the initial Covid 19 infection is over. 

A condition which impacts multiple systems requires a multi-system approach.

Trimetrics Physiotherapy is well equipped to create the bespoke treatment program necessary for each individual patient.  From what we understand so far from all the data collected no one size treatment fits all as every person presents differently. Treatment programs will be customized for you and can either be executed from the comfort of your home or in clinic.

Team work is key at Trimetrics and all practitioners from physiotherapists, RMT’s, Rehabilitation Specialists, Pilates Instructors, Meditation Practitioners and Acupuncturists work in collaboration with one another as well as you, the patient.

In the near future we could also see more collaboration with nutritionists, physiatrists, naturopaths and psychologist as we understand more and more the complexity and nuances of rehabilitation needs.

Watch out for some short exercise videos with lots of helpful hints available soon.

Go slow, start low

Pace yourself

Take extra breaks

Plan ahead!

NICE guideline – managing the long-term effect of Covid 19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8523205/

WHO  https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n405 

Management of post acute covid 19 in primary care

Living with covid recovery app