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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Jul 20, 2022; 12(4): 235-245
Published online Jul 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i4.235
Rehabilitation in long COVID-19: A mini-review
Raktim Swarnakar, Shiv Lal Yadav
Raktim Swarnakar, Shiv Lal Yadav, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Author contributions: Swarnakar R contributed to conception and design; Swarnakar R and Yadav SL contributed to literature search and writing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raktim Swarnakar, MBBS, MD, Doctor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India. raktimswarnakar@hotmail.com
Received: February 27, 2022
Peer-review started: February 27, 2022
First decision: April 13, 2022
Revised: May 7, 2022
Accepted: July 11, 2022
Article in press: July 11, 2022
Published online: July 20, 2022
Abstract

We have been experiencing multiple waves of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With these unprecedented waves, we have entered into an era of ‘new normal’. This pandemic has enforced us to rethink the very basics of childhood learning: Habits, health etiquette, and hygiene. Rehabilitation has immense importance during this pandemic considering a few aspects. Multidisciplinary COVID-19 rehabilitation clinics are essential to address the demand. The equitable distribution of COVID-19 rehabilitation services for differently-abled individuals during the pandemic is an important aspect. Rehabilitation needs identification and further studies on various rehabilitation interventions are among the key unmet future research needs.

Keywords: COVID-19, Long COVID-19, Post-COVID-19 syndrome, Rehabilitation, SARS-CoV-2, Long haulers

Core Tip: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted negatively on multiple systems of our body, among them the pulmonary system is the most pronounced. The cardiac, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems are also involved. Post-COVID-19 especially post-intensive care unit or post mechanical ventilation and long-COVID-19 can cause significant functional loss and disability. Rehabilitation has an immense role to bring back the achievable functional status of COVID-19 patients. Multidisciplinary COVID-19 rehabilitation clinics are essential to address the demand. The equitable distribution of COVID-19 rehabilitation services for differently-abled individuals during the pandemic is an important aspect. Rehabilitation needs identification and further studies on various rehabilitation interventions are among the key unmet future research needs.