Effect of progressive muscle relaxation as an add-on to pulmonary telerehabilitation in discharged patients with COVID-19: A randomised controlled trial.
Arghavan Hajibashi, Javad Sarrafzadeh, Ali Amiri and 2 others
PMID 36731284WHAT IT FOUND
Adding progressive muscle relaxation to pulmonary telerehabilitation did not improve functional capacity over telerehabilitation alone.
It reduced fatigue and anxiety and improved sleep quality in discharged COVID-19 patients.
Key findings
01Adding progressive muscle relaxation to pulmonary telerehabilitation did not significantly improve functional capacity, the primary outcome measured by the 6-minute walk test (P = 0.96).
02Fatigue was significantly less severe in the group receiving progressive muscle relaxation plus pulmonary telerehabilitation than in the group receiving pulmonary telerehabilitation alone (P = 0.041).
03Sleep quality and anxiety improved more with progressive muscle relaxation added to pulmonary telerehabilitation than with pulmonary telerehabilitation alone (P = 0.001 for each).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 52 of the 58 included patients completed the intervention. Participants were discharged hospitalised patients with Internet access, so results do not apply to non-hospitalised patients or patients without Internet access. The trial had no follow-up beyond six weeks. There was no group that received progressive muscle relaxation alone, so the study does not test progressive muscle relaxation by itself. Only the outcome assessor was blinded; participants knew which exercises they received. The study did not account for psychological conditions, diet, family support, or home environment.
Declared interests
The research received no specific grant from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agencies, and the authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the fatigue, sleep, and anxiety improvements as evidence that progressive muscle relaxation alone works. It was given together with pulmonary telerehabilitation, and the primary functional capacity outcome was null (P = 0.96).