It’s hard to believe it has been over four years since the world shut down due to COVID-19. And yet while many people contract and eventually recover from the virus, for some, the symptoms and health repercussions can persist for a long time. This condition has become known as “long COVID” and what sets it apart is the fluctuating nature of its symptoms, which may come and go and vary in intensity depending on physical or mental exertion. In addition, the presence of long COVID is not associated with the severity of the acute infection, so people who have had both mild and severe cases can suffer from it.
To be diagnosed with long COVID, you must have at least one of the typical COVID symptoms that persists or recurs anywhere from 5-12 weeks or more after the initial onset. Symptoms, which can last weeks, months, or even years, include fatigue (78%), shortness of breath (78%), “brain fog” (74%), post-exertional malaise (67%), memory issues (65%), muscle pain (64%), cough (63%), sleep disturbances (62%), depression (50%), and other cardiovascular, digestive, neurological, and dermatological symptoms. Every person will present differently, making diagnosis difficult and recovery practices varied.
To complicate matters, when you’re suffering from long COVID, exercise is usually the last thing on your mind, as simply engaging in your routine daily activities can be a challenge. However, recent studies have shown that physical activity might be the key to lessening certain long COVID symptoms, especially mental, respiratory, and neurological ones. The goals of an exercise program should be to improve functional capacity, total body strength and endurance, cardiopulmonary endurance, movement efficiency and mobility, and mental health. Respiratory interventions can include thoracic expansion and mobilization, diaphragmatic breathing, and core and respiratory muscle retraining. Muscle strengthening and functional exercises can include postural exercises, balance retraining, functional movements, and core and joint stability exercises. All of this is exactly what we do on the mat with the LYT Method and many people have seen an improvement with long COVID symptoms as a result of their practice!
The evidence-based recommendations for training long COVID patients are still emerging. It’s important to monitor closely for overtraining triggers, as post-exertional malaise (PEM) and post-exertional symptom exacerbation can be prevalent in long COVID patients. People with diagnosed PEM should be physically active every day within the limits they have, in order to reduce the loss of muscle and strength. Best practices have found that physical activity should be incorporated into daily habits and routines rather than being perceived as a separate task to be completed. Focusing on social support and environmental motivators and attitudes is important as well. We hope all our members utilize the LYT Daily Community as a way to motivate and find support, especially if you’re suffering from long COVID. Know that you are NOT alone and that we are all pulling for you!
Xoxo,
Kristin
