Long Covid patients are at risk of serious injury if they engage in moderate to vigorous exercise such as running and cycling for much longer than a few minutes, a study has found.
Researchers have found that just 15 minutes of these exercises can cause permanent muscle damage, with symptoms such as muscle cramps, pain, fatigue and even brain fog lasting from two days to two months, depending on the person.
So they say that while gentle exercise such as slow walking is beneficial, patients with long Covid should be careful not to strain for long periods of time to avoid “long-term worsening of symptoms in people with long Covid.” Avoid what is known as post-exercise malaise (PEM).
It comes as scientists predict tens of thousands of people could develop new cases of long-term Covid-19 due to the current wave of infections caused by the combination of Christmas and New Year.
“We clearly show that excessive exercise—just 15 minutes, but too much for patients—does a lot of harm,” says Brent Appelman, a researcher at Amsterdam UMC. I.
“The accident these patients were involved in is so serious that their recovery could take many months. And you can imagine that regular one-hour exercise, an intense eight-hour work day, or two hours of social activity could have a similar effect.
“Of course, patients still need to exercise; Consider walking, an electric bike, or something low-intensity to achieve some form of fitness or conditioning. “But people with long-term Covid-19 should definitely try to avoid post-exercise sickness and therefore skeletal muscle damage,” the doctor said. Appleman.
More than 100,000 Britons are at risk of falling ill from the long Covid-19 crisis in the coming weeks as infections and hospital admissions rise, scientists have warned.
This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of existing cases.
Covid cases in the UK are reaching record numbers, with the latest hospital data showing a 20% rise in daily admissions in the week ending 22 December, according to the NHS.
In the latest study, 25 long-term Covid patients and 21 healthy control participants were asked to ride a bicycle for fifteen minutes.
This bike test caused PEM. Severe fatigue occurs after physical, cognitive, or emotional stress exceeds an unknown individual threshold. The researchers examined blood and muscle tissue a week before and a day after the cycling test.
The researchers also found that persistent fatigue in long-term Covid patients has a biological cause, namely that mitochondria in muscle cells produce less energy than those in healthy patients.
“We observed various abnormalities in the muscle tissue of patients. At the cellular level, we saw that muscle mitochondria, also called the energy factories of the cell, function less well and produce less energy,” says Rob Wüst from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Michel van Vugt, professor of internal medicine at the University of Amsterdam, adds: “We see clear changes in the muscles in these patients.”
“So the cause of fatigue is actually biological. The brain needs energy to think. Muscles need energy to move. “This discovery means that we can now begin research into suitable treatments for people with chronic Covid-19 problems,” adds Van Vugt.
Experts in the field who were not involved in the study welcomed the results.
“This exciting study provides important information at a time of intense debate about the urgent need to determine the mechanisms of this disease, which affects many millions of people.” [around the world]says Professor Danny Altmann from Imperial College London.
Professor Steve Griffin, from the University of Leeds, said the research suggests that “the approach to treating conditions such as long Covid, ME and CFS [myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome] The use of graduated training programs is completely wrong. Moreover, excessive exercise in such circumstances actually turns out to be downright harmful.”
Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam also took part in the study, the results of which were published in the journal. Natural communication.
Source: I News
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