Effects of Respiratory Muscle Training in Patients With Post COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak first appeared in Wuhan, China's Hubei Province in December 2019 and has quickly turned into a worldwide pandemic. As of 28 July 2020, 16,465,707 cases of COVID-19 have been reported. COVID-19 is a highly contagious respiratory disease that causes respiratory, physical and psychological dysfunction in patients. Severe respiratory symptoms have been observed in COVID-19 patients. Fever (88.7%), cough (57.6%) and shortness of breath (45.6%) were observed in an average of 81% of the patients. However, patients with comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes, usually over 65 years of age, may have very serious pulmonary sequelae of the infection. Due to lung fibrosis as a result of pneumonia in COVID-19, some patients experience severe respiratory failure requiring pulmonary rehabilitation. In the study of Complaints such as peripheral and respiratory muscle weakness, shortness of breath on exertion, and decreased exercise capacity may be seen in patients who have had COVID-19. In addition, while anxiety and depression increase, quality of life may decrease. In a study conducted with geriatric patients who had COVID-19 and were discharged; Peripheral and respiratory muscle strengthening exercises were given to the patient after discharge, and as a result of the study, it was found that the patient's walking distance and cough strength increased, while the complaints of shortness of breath, anxiety and depression decreased significantly. As a result of this; We can say that while shortness of breath, anxiety-depression and complications are reduced with the pulmonary rehabilitation program in patients with pulmonary involvement who have had COVID-19, participation in daily life activities and quality of life increase. Telerehabilitation is an emerging method that aims to provide rehabilitation to patients and clinicians by reducing barriers such as distance, time and cost by using information and communication techn