The Effect of Selected Respiratory and Core Stability Tele Exercises on Postural Control, Fatigue and Quality of Life in Covid-19 Discharged Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Patients recovering from COVID-19 have reported a variety of problems, including physical, cognitive and functional disorders. Pulmonary rehabilitation can be considered as a strategy for these disorders. This study aimed to investigate the effect of selected respiratory and core stability tele-exercises on postural control and fatigue and quality of life in survivors discharged from COVID-19. Thirty patients participated in this study voluntarily and were randomly divided into two groups. Eventually 27 patients in two exercise groups (13 patients) and control (14 patients) completed this study. The exercise group performed respiratory and core stability training for 8 weeks via tele-exercise. Before and after the exercise program, Postural control indices, fatigue and quality of life in both groups were assessed. Mix Repeated Measures, Mann-Whitney U and the Wilcoxon test in SPSS27 software were used to compare the mean of pre-test and post-test information of the groups. The significance level for this study was set at 0.05. The results showed that in medial/lateral sway (P=0.047), fatigue (P=0.000), total quality of life (P=0.000), physical health component (P=0.000), and mental health component (P=0.000), as well as subscales of pain (P=0.000), physical function (P=0.001) and limitations due to physical function (P=0.007). Significant differences between the two groups were observed before and after the intervention. Respiratory and core stability exercises by tele-exercise method can be used as a useful method in the rehabilitation of post-acute symptoms especially fatigue and quality of life, in COVID-19 Survivors.