Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COVID-19 patients: A scoping review of current practice and its application during the pandemic

Md Abu Bakar Siddiq ^1-2 ,Farooq Azam Rathore ³ ,Danny Clegg ⁴ ,Johannes J. Rasker ⁵

¹ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brahmanbaria Medical College, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh
² School of Health Sports and Professional Practice, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, United Kingdom
³ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, PNS Shifa Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
⁴ School of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom
⁵ Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands DOI : 10.5606/tftrd.2020.6889 The novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic primarily affects the respiratory system. Elderly individuals with comorbidity are severely affected. Survivors weaned from mechanical ventilation are at a higher risk of developing post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). This scoping review, based on 40 recent publications, highlights pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in COVID-19. There is a paucity of high-quality research on this topic. However, rehabilitation societies including the Turkish Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation have issued PR recommendations in COVID-19 pneumonia with productive cough can benefit from diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing, and resistance-breathing training. Besides, those in mechanical ventilation and post-PICS COVID-19 cases, oxygen therapy, early mobilization, airway clearance, aerobic exercise, gradual-graded limb muscle resistance exercise, nutritional and psychological interventions should be consideration. During PR, careful evaluation of vital signs and exercise-induced symptoms is also required. When in-person PR is not possible, telerehabilitation should be explored. However, the long-term effects of PR in COVID-19 need further evaluation. Keywords : COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemics, pulmonary rehabilitation, review