The Effect of physical therapy on impairments in COVID-19 patients from intensive care to home rehabilitation: A rapid review.
Ruben Debeuf, Eva Swinnen, Tine Plattiau and 6 others
PMID 34633050WHAT IT FOUND
Physical therapy improved breathing, walking distance, and anxiety in COVID-19 patients across hospital and home settings.
However, most studies lacked control groups, so natural recovery cannot be ruled out as the cause of these gains.
Key findings
01All included studies reported significant improvements in pulmonary function after physical therapy, despite using different interventions and outcome measures.
02All included studies reported significant improvements in at least one physical outcome measure, such as walking distance or grip strength, after the intervention.
03The overall risk of bias in the included studies was moderate-to-high, meaning the internal validity is low and conclusions should be interpreted with caution.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Most included studies lacked control groups, preventing causal conclusions about the effect of physical therapy. The overall risk of bias in the included studies was moderate-to-high, with issues like missing data and lack of blinding. The interventions were highly heterogeneous, making it difficult to recommend specific protocols. Only 3 studies focused on discharged patients, so evidence for home-based rehabilitation is limited compared to inpatient care.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume physical therapy caused the observed improvements. Most studies in this review had no control group, so the gains in breathing and walking could be due to natural recovery from COVID-19 rather than the intervention itself.