Many people who have recovered from the corona disease (COVID-19) experience prolonged symptoms, especially breathlessness. Because of this, there is an immediate need to identify safe and effective rehabilitation approaches in patients who have recovered from the corona virus. In a study whose findings were published in the ‘European Respiratory Journal’, the aim of the researchers was to test the rehabilitative potential of inspiratory muscle training (IMT: inspiratory muscle training).
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For this purpose, the researchers collected 281 adults (age 46.6±12.2 years; 88% women) who recovered from self-reported corona (9.0±4.2 months after the acute infection). Study participants were randomly assigned, 4:1, to IMT treatment for 8 weeks, or to a waitlist control and ‘usual care’. Before and after the intervention, quality of life questionnaires related to health and shortness of breath (King’s Brief Interstitial Lung Disease) were evaluatedJ(K-PIC) ו-Transition Dyspnea IndexJ(TDI)), respiratory muscle strength, and fitness (Chester Step Test). The primary outcome of the study was the total score of the K-BILD, and the main secondary outcomes were the domains of the K-BILD and the TDI.
The results of the study show that based on the intention to treat, no difference was found between the groups in the total score of the K-BILD after the intervention (control: 59.5±12.4; IMT: 58.2±12.3; p<0.05), but the IMT led to significant improvements Clinically in the areas of K-BILD for shortness of breath (control: 59.8±12.6; IMT: 62.2±16.2; p<0.05) and chest symptoms (control: 59.2±18.7; 64.5±18.2:IMT; p<0.05), as well as significant improvements Clinically in shortness of breath according to the TDI (control: 0.9±1.7 vs. 2.0±2.0; p<0.05). In addition, the IMT led to an improvement in respiratory muscle strength and assessed aerobic fitness.
In conclusion, respiratory muscle training may be an important home rehabilitation approach, which can be applied more widely as part of the rehabilitation approach after the corona disease. Considering the nature of the diversity in the representation of post-corona, there is a need for further research regarding individual responses to rehabilitation. Also, the dropout rate here indicates that, in all probability, one strategy is unlikely to fit all.
source:
McNarry, M. A., Berg, R., Shelley, J., Hudson, J., Saynor, Z. L., Duckers, J., Lewis, K., Davies, G. A., & Mackintosh, K. A. (2022). Inspiratory muscle training enhances recovery post-COVID-19: a randomised controlled trial. The European respiratory journal, 60(4), 2103101.