INTERVIEW
Physiotherapists play a major role in the rehabilitation of patients affected by Covid-19. For these patients, "there is an absolute need for care in physiotherapy," said Frédéric Srour, chairman of the ethics committee of the National Council of the Order of Physiotherapists, in "Without appointment" on Europe 1 Tuesday.
Physiotherapists participate in classic resuscitation care by checking the ventilation of patients for example. But "as soon as patients come out of intensive care, the role of the physiotherapist is extremely important", explains Frédéric Srour.
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Rehabilitation is also important for young Covid patients
"The consequences of Covid infection on patients who have been intubated for a long time" are significant, he insists. They suffer mainly from "great weakness". The physiotherapist will thus play a role in the rehabilitation, the motor rehabilitation of patients who need care to work their limbs and muscles.
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And this work is important even in young subjects. "Patients who are 40, 50 years old find themselves extremely tired when they leave the hospital and need the same rehabilitation". The only difference with patients over 70 is that they have comorbidities "which sometimes decompensate because of this immobilization. So we have to fight against that", summarizes Frédéric Srour.
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The rehabilitation time depends on the patient's "level of fatigability"
The rehabilitation time of Covid patients will "depend on their level of fatigability". Between patients who come out of intensive care and who are "extremely tiring" and for whom "it is better to repeat several sessions during the day for a few minutes" and patients who return home and "that we will see once a day to rehabilitate them for a quarter of an hour, twenty minutes, half an hour a day if they are able, there is a different margin for maneuver, "explains Frédéric Srour.
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In all cases, "these patients must absolutely regain motor function and respiratory capacity because they are tired and breathless," said the chairman of the ethics committee of the National Council of the order of physiotherapists. "So we have a very important rehabilitation work to do."