Coronavirus patients, cured after resuscitation, face the challenge of rehabilitation. These people do not return to their former lives, since they lose their normal breathing, digestion as well as their mobility. For good reason, they were often intubated and bedridden for several weeks. Now they need to relearn how to eat, walk, and often even breathe. This is the case of Dominica, a patient admitted to the rehabilitation center of the hospital in Golbey, who has difficulty getting around. “We don’t have strength anymore, it’s very complicated” did he declare.
Of “Physical unconditioned”
This is explained by the weeks of inactivity he went through and during which his muscles melted. Dominica has practically lost 22 kilos. According to Sylvie Guillaume, head of the rehabilitation department of the hospital of Golbey, when patients are raised, they often cannot stand on their own. She explained that transferring them from the bed to the hospital is ” impossible “. For the teacher Jean Paysant, specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the IRR (Regional Rehabilitation Institute) of Nancy, these patients are “Physical unconditioned”. According to him, “They are literally exhausted, and get tired very quickly at the slightest effort.”
Programs to help them regain their mobility
He goes on to say that their muscles are no longer able to carry them, as ” for astronauts who have been weightless for several days “. The multidisciplinary teams of rehabilitation centers like that of St Christophe and the IRR of Nancy, have set up programs to help patients regain their mobility. So, in order not to exhaust them, we make them practice reduced walking exercises, but performed several times a day. To this is sometimes added a bit of cycling, under the watchful eye of professionals who ensure that the heart rate and blood pressure remain at normal level.
Physiotherapists collaborate with occupational therapists and teachers of sports activities, in order to relieve the aches or pains that follow these exercises.
–
