Tele-Rehabilitation Interventions for Motor Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients: A Narrative Review

Overview

Journal Bioengineering (Basel)

Date 2023 Jun 28

PMID 37370581

Authors

Serena Cerfoglio

Paolo Capodaglio

Paolo Rossi

Federica Verme

Gabriele Boldini

Viktoria Cvetkova

Graziano Ruggeri

Manuela Galli

Veronica Cimolin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to global healthcare systems regarding the care of acute patients and the delivery of rehabilitation programs to post-acute or chronic patients. Patients who survive severe forms of COVID-19 often report incomplete healing and long-term symptoms. The need of these patients for rehabilitation has been recognized as a public health problem. In this context, the application of tele-rehabilitation has been explored to reduce the burden on healthcare systems. The purpose of this narrative review is to present an overview of the state of the art regarding the application of remote motor rehabilitation programs for paucisymptomatic acute and post-acute COVID-19 patients, with a focus on the motor aspects of tele-rehabilitation. Following an extensive search on PubMed, the Web of Science, and Scopus, specific studies have been reviewed and compared in terms of study objectives and participants, experimental protocols and methods for home-based interventions, functional assessment, and rehabilitation outcomes. Overall, this review suggests the feasibility and the effectiveness of tele-rehabilitation as a promising tool to complement face-to-face rehabilitation interventions. However, further improvements are needed to overcome the limitations and the current lack of knowledge in the field.

Citing Articles

Motor and Respiratory Tele-Rehabilitation in Patients with Long COVID-19 after Hospital Discharge: An Interventional Study.

Cerfoglio S, Verme F, Capodaglio P, Rossi P, Cvetkova V, Boldini G Life (Basel). 2024; 14(7).

PMID: 39063618 PMC: 11277623. DOI: 10.3390/life14070864.

Digital Technology Enablers of Tele-Neurorehabilitation in Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era - A Scoping Review.

Uddin M, Ganapathy K, Syed-Abdul S Int J Telerehabil. 2024; 16(1):e6611.

PMID: 39022438 PMC: 11250154. DOI: 10.5195/ijt.2024.6611.

Whole-Body Cryostimulation in Post-COVID Rehabilitation for Patients with Obesity: A Multidisciplinary Feasibility Study.

Fontana J, Alito A, Pitera P, Verme F, Cattaldo S, Cornacchia M Biomedicines. 2023; 11(11).

PMID: 38002092 PMC: 10669700. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11113092.

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