COVID-19 creates significant challenges for rehabilitation services around the world. Rehabilitation services are consistently amongst the health services most severely disrupted by the pandemic. At the same time, COVID-19 actually increases rehabilitation needs – both for patients who are critically unwell with the disease, and for those who continue to experience the long-term consequences of their illness.

Some people who recover from COVID-19 may need physical rehabilitation to help them resume normal activities after staying in the hospital, or following periods of prolonged isolation.

People recovering from COVID-19 may require close monitoring of rehabilitation needs and adequate referral. Rehabilitation services should be developed as an integral part of the model of care for people with post COVID-19 condition, and aim at reducing the physical, cognitive and mental health impacts of COVID-19.

A set of interventions that are particularly developed to minimize the disability and restore the normal functioning in the patient is called rehabilitation. When the patient recovers from the novel coronavirus infection and experiences residual symptoms, rehabilitation can be a key strategy to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on the body functions and health of the individual. And, it is important to note that physiotherapy plays a crucial role in the rehabilitation efforts in all stages to facilitate early discharge, support the patient, and improve his physical and psychological abilities. Also, it reduces the risk of readmission.

Manifestations of Long COVID:
Here are some residual effects that the patient may experience after the coronavirus infection subsides.

1. Long Covid Effects on Respiratory system:

Lung fibrosis: The condition which makes the patient’s lungs turn scarred, and the patient may suffer from shortness of breath, weight loss, and fatigue.
Pulmonary artery hypertension: It results in high blood pressure in the patient’s lungs resulting due to obstruction in the lungs’ small arteries. It may cause chest pressure, dizziness, and shortness of breath.
Pulmonary embolism: When there is a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries of your lungs, usually due to blood clots that traverse to the lungs from deep veins in the legs, you may suffer from a pulmonary embolism. It may cause cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath.

2. Long Covid Effects on Cardiovascular system:

Palpitation: It makes you suffer from a discomforting pounding sensation in the chest.
Myocarditis: When you suffer from an inflammation of the heart muscle that reduces the ability of your heart to pump, thereby resulting in abnormal heart rhythms, you are said to suffer from myocarditis.
Cardiomyopathy: It’s the ailment of the heart muscle which makes it hard for your heart to pump blood to the rest of the parts of your body. Swollen feet and legs, breathlessness, and a bloated stomach are some of the common symptoms.
Cardiac failure: When your heart muscle fails to pump blood as it should normally, it is called cardiac or congestive heart failure.

3. Long Covid Effects on the Nervous system:

Anosmia: Loss of ability to sense one or more smells
Short-term memory loss
Reduced attention span
Poor quality of sleep
Cognitive impairment
Cognitive blunting
Stroke syndromes: A set of symptoms that enable you to identify which area of the brain is injured due to a stroke.
More severe and rare neurological complications include brain inflammation, delirium, strokes, and nerve damage.

4. Residual Effects of COVID on Mental health:

Anxiety
Depression
Irritability
Reduced consciousness (at times even seizures)
Post-traumatic stress disorder: It is a psychological health condition that results in nightmares, severe anxiety, and flashbacks.
Sleep disturbance

5. Residual Effects of COVID on Musculoskeletal and others

Chronic fatigue syndrome
Polyarthritis
Myalgia
Excessive fatigability