Efficacy of Therapeutic Exercise in Reversing Decreased Strength, Impaired Respiratory Function, Decreased Physical Fitness, and Decreased Quality of Life Caused by the Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Diego Fernández-Lázaro; Gema Santamaría; Nerea Sánchez-Serrano; Eva Lantarón Caeiro; Jesús Seco-Calvo

doi:10.3390/v14122797

Efficacy of Therapeutic Exercise in Reversing Decreased Strength, Impaired Respiratory Function, Decreased Physical Fitness, and Decreased Quality of Life Caused by the Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Viruses. 2022 Dec 15;14(12):2797. doi: 10.3390/v14122797.

Authors

Diego Fernández-Lázaro^{1

2}, Gema Santamaría³, Nerea Sánchez-Serrano^{1

4}, Eva Lantarón Caeiro⁵, Jesús Seco-Calvo^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cell Biology, Genetics, Histology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Campus de Soria, University of Valladolid, 42003 Soria, Spain.
² Neurobiology Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, Spain.
³ Department of Anatomy and Radiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Campus de Soria, University of Valladolid, 42003 Soria, Spain.
⁴ Microbiology Unit of Soria University Assistance Complex (CAUSO), Santa Bárbara Hospital, Castille and Leon Health (SACyL), 42003 Soria, Spain.
⁵ Physiotherapy Group FS1, General Surgery Research Group, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Faculty of Physical Therapy, University of Vigo, 36005 Ponteveda, Spain.
⁶ Department of Physiotherapy, Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), Campus de Vegazana, University of León, 24071 León, Spain.
⁷ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Basque Country, 48900 Leioa, Spain.

Abstract

In the current global scenario, many COVID-19 survivors present a severe deterioration in physical strength, respiratory function, and quality of life due to persistent symptoms and post-acute consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These alterations are known as post-COVID-19 syndrome for which there is no specific and effective treatment for their management. Currently, therapeutic exercise strategies (ThEx) are effective in many diseases by reducing the appearance of complications and side effects linked to treatment, and are consequently of great relevance. In this study, we review the effect of ThEX in reversing decreased strength, impaired respiratory function, decreased physical fitness, and decreased quality of life (QoL) caused by post-COVID-19 syndrome. A literature search was conducted through the electronic databases, Medline (PubMed), SciELO and Cochrane Library Plus for this structured narrative review for studies published from database retrieval up till 12 December 2022. A total of 433 patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome condition (60% women) were included in the nine studies which met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Overall, post-COVID-19 syndrome patients who followed a ThEx intervention showed improvements in strength, respiratory function, physical fitness and QoL, with no exercise-derived side effects. Thus, ThEx based on strength, aerobic and respiratory training could be an adjuvant non-pharmacological tool in the modulation of post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; exercise; fatigue; long COVID-19; physical fitness; post-COVID-19; quality of life; respiratory function.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / therapy
Female
Humans
Male
Physical Fitness
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
Quality of Life
SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This research has been funded by the Chair of Knowledge and Innovation “Caja Rural de Soria”, University of Valladolid, Campus de Soria (Spain), project number SO-2-2020.