Perspectives of Rehabilitation Professionals on Long COVID Interventions to Facilitate Return-to-Work.
Cassandra MacKinnon, Cassandra Castro-Barquero, Alexandra Kontis and 3 others
PMID 39846207WHAT IT FOUND
Therapists treating long COVID prioritize managing daily home tasks before work.
Return-to-work plans often extend to 16 weeks, double the usual 8 weeks. Progress relies on trial-and-error pacing, waiting days after activity increases to avoid post-exertional crashes.
Key findings
01Rehabilitation professionals view return-to-work as a long-term goal, requiring clients to first manage daily living activities at home without symptom exacerbation.
02Interventions progress by increasing activity duration and frequency before intensity, using a trial-and-error approach with multi-day stabilization periods to monitor for post-exertional malaise.
03Return-to-work timelines are significantly longer than for other conditions, with plans often extending to 16 weeks compared to the typical 8 weeks, and few clients return within 3 months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 9 participants from Quebec, limiting the generalizability of the findings to other regions or healthcare systems. The sample was predominantly female (8 of 9) and weighted toward occupational therapy (5 of 9), which may skew the perspective on return-to-work strategies. The professionals had limited experience with long COVID (averaging 1.7 years), so their reported practices may reflect early-stage adaptation rather than established best practices. The study reports clinician perspectives and experiences, not patient outcomes, so it does not measure the effectiveness of these interventions. Recruitment difficulties in the public sector resulted in a sample heavily skewed toward private practice (7 of 9), which may influence the types of accommodations and timelines discussed.
Declared interests
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these findings as evidence that these specific interventions improve patient outcomes or speed recovery. This study reports what clinicians currently do and believe works; it does not test whether these strategies are effective compared to other approaches.