EFFECTIVENESS OF PHYSIOTHERAPY TREATMENT ON FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY IN POST COVID-19 SURVIVAL SUBJECTS.

Abstract

Introduction: In late December 2019, an outbreak of a highly contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) started from the city of Wuhan, China. A high proportion of individuals who recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19 including SARS and MERS reported persistence of fatigue. Rehabilitation of post-COVID-19 patients is crucial for recovering from fatigue and improving functional status. Need for the study (brief): There are currently scarcity reports on the physiotherapy of COVID-19 patients that focus on fatigue, grip strength and endurance and their overall contribution to improve functional capacity. OurStudy Methodology (brief): study design focussed on randomized controlled trial. We took sample size of 30, based on various inclusion and exclusion criteria.We included only those patients for our test who were a) non-critical and had tested positive for SARS- COV 2 virus based on RT-PCR test (Nasopharyngeal and Oropharyngeal swabs). These patients were admitted to COVID wards however not admitted in ICU. b) Recovered Patient who were referred either by physician or pulmonologist for post-covid rehabilitation (post 14/17 days of quarantine).We excluded those patients from our studies a) who refused to give their consent b) who had neurological deficits c) who were unable to ambulate/with any lower limb disability or fractures d) who were haemodynamically unstable. We segregated our subjects into two categories either experimental group or control group based on sequential envelope method. Our analysis for the data is based on statistical software R version 4.1.1 and Microsoft Excel. We have used Shapiro-Wilk's test to check the normality of variables and Paired t- test/Wilcoxon's test to compare the mean/distributions of pre-operative and post-operative parameters. The ethical clearance was obtained from SDM institutional ethical committee. We had done the CLINICAL REGISTRATION TRIAL with the CTRI reference number is REF/2021/07/045807. Finally derived from the study highlighted the roleconclusion of physiotherapy intervention in not just improving the endurance and fatigue in covid 19 patients but also helped in reducing the complications and helped the patients to carry out their ADLS much more efficiently and helped in improving their quality of life.