F was left unable to work after contracting COVID. At the outset she felt generally weak and ached from head to toe, then became progressively weaker and unwell, resulting in a 999 call and admission to hospital. A prolonged stay in ITU followed, where she was ventilated and eventually Intermediate Care at Home became involved.

F started an 8-week, twice-weekly Long COVID Rehab group, where the main issues we were looking to address were breathlessness, fatigue and general deconditioning. The goals F set herself were to gain more strength and hopefully improve her breathing, so she was not so breathless. She also wanted to improve leg strength, reduce fatigue and desaturations before work in the mornings and to be able to carry things upstairs.

In her first session, we started with low level exercise and she managed 12 sit to stands in a minute but was extremely breathless and fatigued afterwards, Her arms felt “like jelly” after completing 9 bicep curls with 2kg dumbells and she struggled with 10 press ups against the wall.

Throughout all sessions we worked on pacing, breathing techniques / control and monitoring heart rate. As the sessions went on F started to improve and progress her exercises but unfortunately caught COVID for the second time just 4 sessions into the course and was unable to attend group for a fortnight.

We started slowly again with her, but by the latter stages of the course Miss F was on the treadmill with a steep incline, planking, bridging for very small amount of times, going up and the down stairs 12 times, using an arm bike at low level, and completing sit to stand with 1.5kg weights.

F finished the course showing a higher level of function, more stamina, less fatigue and reduced breathlessness. Anxiety and depression had also decreased. She felt she had benefitted from the course and agreed to continue her recovery by joining the following Long COVID group.

F has now returned to work on a phased return and is able to carry out her original role. In patient feedback given at post testing, she commented that, “The course was great, I have improved so much with my breathing, strength and stamina. The team are amazing and make it fun but at the same time work you to your limits.”