Physiotherapists Recommend Exercises for COVID-19 Patients

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Chairman, Lagos Chapter of Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (EKONSP), Mrs. Adenike Sonuyi, has recommended daily exercise for COVID-19 patients after recovery.

This was her remark at the commemoration of the World Physiotherapist (WPT) Day at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi in Lagos.

Her words: “Everybody needs physiotherapy for fitness at any point in time. In fact, a physiotherapist should be seen as often as it is needed but physical activity should be done on a daily basis. You can’t do without it if you’re not active on a daily basis.”

With the theme of this year’s WPT Day as ‘Rehabilitation along COVID-19’, physiotherapists are creating awareness on the effect patients have after contracting the COVID-19 for a long period.

Sonuyi highlighted: “You know after recovering, some of the symptoms are still there. We can go through weeks, even months. That is what we are trying to look at how to manage such that the patient can have a good quality of life.”

She insisted that COVID-19 patients need management, which is what they do. “After they’ve contracted it, even during the period, we manage them but this particular long COVID-19 is a condition that we have identified even after treatment.”

While noting that some symptoms still persist after COVID-19 treatment, Sonuyi said patients experience breathlessness, fatigue from time to time, tightness in the chest, and muscle weakness for a long time.

“That is why we’ve decided to look into this and talk about it deeply, go into studies and find out what can be done to help this group of people.”

To help such patients cope, the chairman encouraged having a daily plan of exercise to strengthen his or her body, muscles, ligaments, joints, and then breathing too.

According to her, by the time the patient does these series of exercises regularly, he or she will be able to cope with all daily activities.

“Physiotherapists have prescribed exercises including aerobics training, strengthening exercises for the body, for the muscles. The heart is made up of muscles. When you exercise it, it strengthens the heart and then your blood flow is improved and that way you’ll be able to cope,” she listed.

Sonuyi, however, called on the government to look into the situation of the health sector and make sure that every new unit is addressed like physiotherapy.

“They need to look deeply into employing more physiotherapists, and put them in the limelight. Some therapists are not employed because the institutions are not taking them up, maybe because of the economy, but I know that by the time they employ them we’ll have enough to reach out to the populace.”

While many people have described Igbobi as a place where broken bones and limbs are fixed or a place of amputation, Mrs. Chinyere Oraukwu, a patient, says it is synonymous with empathy and care.

Oraukwu often visits the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, following a ghastly auto crash this March that left her left knee and right arm. Since then, she has been a frequent face at the Physiotherapy department.

“Away from what we were told about Igbobi as kids, the physiotherapists are caring and compassionate,” she explained. “I’ve seen the effects of daily exercise. I have six types of exercises that I do here. They encourage you to do the same at home. The department is doing well. They should continue with their good works and also try to improve”.