Adults with long COVID

Recovering from Coronavirus?

Start slow and avoid the temptation to compete with your [pre-Covid] self. This is a vicious virus that affects major parts of your body. With that, it is still new in the medical field, and with that in mind, a slow and measured approach is certainly advised.

The Moving Medicines website and also a new video from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists that is aimed at helping to guide patients on their road to recovery can be found via the links below. A sample of the resources can be found further down our page.

Moving medicines - covid recovery resources

Chartered Society of Physiotherapists

Setting goals can help you keep focussed and motivated. It is useful to consider both short and long term goals to break your progress up into achievable chunks. When setting goals it is useful to keep them:

• Specific – The goal should make it clear what you want to accomplish eg. Walk up the hill near my house without stopping

• Measurable – Identify a way to measure and track progress toward the goal eg. Increase the number of lampposts I walk to each week

• Attainable – Choosing very hard goals sets you up for failure so make them easy and realistic eg. If you are not currently active, a better goal should be to walk up your local hill without stopping rather than run all the way up.

• Relevant – Make goals relevant to important things in your life. For instance, walking up the hill from your house may help you visit your family and friends more often if they live at the top of the hill.

• Time-framed – Think about how frequently and for how long you will do the activity. Whilst in the early stages of recovery this may best be just a few minutes at a time spread throughout the day and interspersed with rest periods.

Why consider swimming as part of Covid-19 recovery

People often do not realise how good swimming is as an exercise, because they do not feel sweaty while doing so, but the benefits can be significant. Swimming and related activities have been shown to offer benefits due to the unique aquatic environment. These unique properties may be helpful in supporting those who are recovering from Covid-19, and those who are feeling out of shape.