The effectiveness of rehabilitation of patients after covid pneumonia with osteopathic methods

Introduction. The new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the lives of many people. Any infectious and infl ammatory process in the lungs can lead to adverse consequences for the whole organism. The pathological process affecting the respiratory structures of the lungs, bronchi leads to disruption of various links of the external respiration system; therefore, timely effective rehabilitation for such patients can improve the quality of life, reduce the period of temporary disability, and most importantly, restore the function of external respiration.
The aim was to prove the effectiveness of the osteopathic methods application in the rehabilitation of patients after coronavirus pneumonia.
Materials and methods. On the basis of the Primorsky Institute of Vertebroneurology and Manual Medicine (Vladivostok) the rehabilitation of patients with coronavirus pneumonia was carried out using osteopathic methods. 63 patients after suffering from coronavirus pneumonia were randomly divided into 2 groups comparable in terms of clinical and functional characteristics. The fi rst group (main) consisted of 34 people (average age 65.5±1.5 years), of which 44.1 % were men and 55.9 % were women. Group 2 (control) included 28 patients (mean age 64.1±1.6 years), of which 32.1 % were men and 67.9 % were women. To assess the function of external respiration, spirometry was performed and the main indicators of the vital capacity of the lungs were assessed (vital capacity — VC, and FVC — forced vital capacity). To measure the saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood with oxygen (SpO₂), pulse oximetry was performed. Rehabilitation included in the main group osteopathic correction (2 procedures), breathing exercises (4 procedures) and chest massage (4 procedures); in the control group there were breathing exercises (4 procedures) and chest massage (4 procedures). The rehabilitation course lasted 14 days. For the statistical analysis of the obtained data the Statistica-10 software package was used.
Results. The studies revealed a pronounced change in the function of external respiration in patients who had undergone coronavirus pneumonia. According to the results of spirometry, more than 90 % of patients showed a statistically signifi cant (p=0.006) decrease in VC compared to the physiological norm — both in the main group (VC down to 80.7 %) and in the control group (VC down to 87.6 %), as well as a signifi cant (p=0.0001) decrease in FVC to 77.7 % in the main group and to 79.1 % in the control group. After rehabilitation, patients in the main group showed a statistically signifi cant improvement in the function of external respiration, manifested in an increase in VC by 12.3 % (p<0.0001), FVC by 12.1 %. In patients in the control group (without osteopathic correction), after the rehabilitation, the main indicators of the function of external respiration also improved, but the changes were not statistically signifi cant. As a result of rehabilitation, the patients of the main group showed a statistically signifi cant SpO₂ increasing (from 96.6±0.2 to 97.5±0.2 %, p=0.0013); in the control group, there was also a positive dynamics of these indicators, but the changes were not statistically signifi cant.
Conclusion. The results of the study allow to conclude that the inclusion of osteopathic correction methods in the rehabilitation of patients after coronavirus pneumonia has a positive effect on their state, improves the external respiration function indicators — VC and FVC, and also increases the SpO₂. The obtained results allow to recommend the inclusion of osteopathic methods in the rehabilitation programs for patients who have undergone coronavirus infection.

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