New research presented at The Physiological Society’s Long COVID: Mechanisms, Risk Factors, and Recovery on 22 – 23 February shows that a small handheld breathing device helped reduced breathlessness and improved physical fitness of people with long COVID. The low cost, home-based rehabilitation programme increased the strength of respiratory muscles speeding up the rate of recovery from COVID-19.
Approximately, one in ten people recovering from COVID-19 experience long COVID (reports on this figure still vary), which negatively impacts quality of life. Many people with long COVID feel breathless, tired and can have difficulties performing basic tasks of daily living.
The new intervention improved respiratory health and fitness levels of people with long COVID by training the muscles that you use to breath. Training the breathing muscles strengthens them just like other muscles in the body. Participants felt less breathless, stronger, fitter, and could move around more easily, similar to pre-COVID levels.
148 participants took part in the study. They were…
