A Physiotherapy Treatment Plan for Post-COVID-19 Patients That Improves the FEV1, FVC, and 6-Min Walk Values, and Reduces the Sequelae in 12 Sessions.

All patients received the same plan and were compared only with themselves, so improvement cannot be separated from natural recovery, other care, or time. The plan included many components at once, including breathing exercises, mobilizations, relaxation, strengthening, aerobic exercise, balance or coordination work, and energy-saving teaching, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The paper does not report how many patients completed the 12 sessions or how dropouts were handled. The symptom results say dyspnea was reduced to 65.6%, which does not make clear whether that is the remaining symptom level or the size of reduction. The group had mixed illness severity, from mild outpatient illness to intensive care and invasive mechanical ventilation, so it is hard to know which post-COVID patients the plan would help. The psycho-emotional change was based on a self-report questionnaire, and the authors caution that answers may not be reliable. The FEV1/FVC ratio mean difference was -0.019, so not every breathing measure moved in the same direction.

Funded by regular and special resources from Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes for the Medical Didactic Unit, Health Sciences Center and Research 2021 and 2022. The authors declared no commercial or financial conflicts.

Do not conclude that a single exercise caused the improvements. The patients received breathing, mobilization, relaxation, strengthening, aerobic, balance, coordination, and energy-saving teaching together, and the study had no comparison group.