Are you struggling to regain your strength and endurance after covid?
If yes, then you are not alone.
Here is a conversation I had with a former patient just the other day.
He stopped by to ask if there was anything he could do to regain his strength after being sick with one of the many variant forms of Covid circulating around.
He described himself as “weak as a kitten”, and had to ask his wife for help to do simple things around the house (I think he was a little embarrassed about this), and he has to take frequent rest breaks due to his weakness and fatigue.
His doctor told him he was a “long hauler” and it would just take time but he wants to be proactive with his health and knows he will have to push his limits if he wants to regain his strength and endurance.
He also knows that he doesn’t know the best way to go about it and is concerned that if he just “waits” as his doctor advised then he may never regain his strength and endurance.
Luckily for him his balance is decent and he is not having to use a cane, walker or walking stick to get around, but we have helped several other people with long haul covid symptoms who did come to us using a assistive walking device.
When questioned about his breathing he said it is still difficult to get a deep breath and this is another reason he has to rest more frequently.
At my recent balance and falls prevention workshop part of the discussion was centered around a long covid recovery. Patients who suffer with this are being called “long haulers”.
Many of the participants reported similar issues post-covid up to and including frequent falls, dizziness, wobbly gait and shortness of breath.
They feel helpless because no one is telling them what to do, only rest with the assurance it will get better.
Not feeling 100% can make you grumpy, disturb your sleep – causing you to feel run down and have a general sense of fatigue that you just can’t shake
It prevents you from playing with your kids or grandkids, taking walks when the weather is nice, playing golf or returning to work however you feel you are not able to do so.
This is now becoming a major point of why people are attending physical therapy, because we do have some solutions to their problems.
When the dust has settled, getting your health, strength and endurance back from a respiratory illness is critical to your survival and independence.
I am seeing more and more people who are suffering with general deconditioning, including difficulty breathing and getting their energy levels back due to recent COVID episodes.
These are my “long haulers”.
Others feel they are doomed and can not do anything to improve their situation. You might feel this way. I am here to say that you won’t know how good you can be until you really try.
One thing is for sure, is that your energy and breathing issues won’t go away on their own.
How do you regain your strength, endurance while maintaining your independence and freedom?
How do you try to protect yourself in the first place and then if you do get it make maximum recovery?
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I have written a report that discusses how to do this. You can get it FREE by clicking HERE.
You can also read more in a previous post about recovering from covid.
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For starters you have to decide that you are going to be proactive in your health and do something about it.
For us we always start with The MAGICAL 5 Phases of Healing!!!
What are The MAGICAL 5 Phases of Healing?
Phase 1: Minimize Pain and Inflammation – This phase is all about getting you and keeping you out of pain. We want you to be able to enjoy life and not be constantly taking a painkiller just to live life every day.
Phase 2: Restore Mobility, Flexibility, and Strength: This phase is where we rebuild your physical abilities so you can enjoy your favorite activities without pain and worry. We rebuild your confidence in your body’s ability to do what you want without injury.
Phase 3: Return to Normal Function and Activity: This phase is our favorite because it means that you are back to your normal, pre-injury, or surgery self. You’re free to go about your day and smile knowing everything is healed!
Phase 4: Maintenance and Injury Prevention: Now that you’re healed, we want to keep you that way. This phase is all about making sure you don’t have a repeat injury and keeping your body strong and healthy.
Phase 5: Performance Enhancement: Why settle for normal? During this phase, we help you improve and go beyond what you were able to do before your injury or surgery. We want to help you be the best you can be!
Most of our Covid Long Haulers are starting in Phase 2. This means we are helping your rebuild so you can get back to doing the things you love without worry or loss of independence.
It starts with our simple 3 Step Process.
- Schedule a FREE Discovery Visit with one of our experts.
- Receive a Customized (Individualized) Treatment Plan
- Get Your Life Back and Do What You Love
It really is that simple!
The first step is the hardest and I can’t take it for you but I can make it as simple and easy as possible.
“A healthy man has thousands of wishes, a sick man has only one”. –Agnes Karll Schwest Krankenpfleger
You will work with one of our experts to design a customized plan specific to your needs and conditions.
The gentleman I mentioned at the start of this post has some other joint aches and pains and was concerned about not making them worse and possibly treating them in the process.
I explained to him that we would listen to his concerns, test a few things to get a baseline and then work with him to get him on the road to recovery.
Next Action:
If you have not grabbed my FREE Covid Report then I suggest you do it HERE.
Second, I have talked about this for years. I call it The 3 D’s. You can learn more about it HERE. Follow The 3-D’s to handle your issue and you can’t go wrong.
- Don’t ignore the problem—A problem could be pain, weakness, frequent falls or trouble recovering from an injury or illness. It is a signal from the body that something is wrong. Hoping and wishing will not make it better. Try to ignore it and hope it goes away –almost never works and usually makes everything worse.
- Don’t mask it—getting injections, taking pills, wearing a brace or using a walker only masks the problem and doesn’t fix the underlying cause. I have several examples in my personal life where this did not work out. Trying to mask it and not truly addressing the underlying issue makes the problem cost more (time, money and stress) to fix in the long run.
- Do something about it-–If addressed properly most problems can heal conservatively, naturally without injections or surgical intervention. Doing something about it – addressing the issue head on, while it may be tough at first it will get a better result in the long run.
Pro tip: Get it looked at by the experts at MOSS Rehabilitation Center.
Follow The 3-D’s to handle your issue and you can’t go wrong.
Basically when you have a problem you have a few options. Choose the right one.
Research has shown that progressive strengthening and endurance exercise can build lung capacity and function. Since Sars-Cov2 (Covid) is a respiratory virus, anything you can do to build lung capacity will help you regain your endurance and stamina.
The ultimate question to ask yourself is what type of life are you going to live and what do you need to do to get there?
If you are recovering from an illness or injury and want to be the best version of yourself then starting by working with an expert is a great place to start.
Remember the KEY is to start so small that it is impossible to fail. -Kaizen
If you would like to learn how we are helping the Springtown community with their long COVID recovery by incorporating these tips to help them improve their health, recuperate quicker and get their endurance back then give us a call at 817-220-MOSS (6677).
We love helping everyday people get back to doing the things they love to do.
At MOSS Rehabilitation Center we make it easy for you to get started. We even have a simple 3 step process.
1. Schedule a FREE NO Obligation, Discovery Visit with one of our experts. During this visit, you will talk with one of our friendly experts about your issues. This is a safe and confidential visit, you can trust that your safety and privacy is important to us. We are taking extra measures to ensure that you remain safe during this pandemic.
2. Receive a Customized (Individualized) Treatment Plan. Based on your free discovery visit, we will put together a custom, unique to you plan that will address all of your nagging pains and issues. The goal is to get you back to your healthy self as soon as possible while also addressing your issues for the long term.
3. Get Your Life Back and Do What You Love. The best result for us is a patient who tells us they can finally do what they love without the constant pain, stress, or issue they were facing. Together we can get you back to living life without worry.
So what do the most successful people do when they have health concerns? They address their problem.
NEXT ACTION: If you are really serious about speeding up your long covid recovery start by calling 817-220-6677 today to schedule your FREE NO OBLIGATION Discovery Visit.
To your health,
Dr. Robert Moss PT, ScD, OCS, FAAOMPT
