Cardiorespiratory and skeletal muscle damage due to COVID-19: making the urgent case for rehabilitation

Introduction: It has become increasingly evident that COVID-19 contributes to multiorgan pathophysiology. The systemic inflammatory response increases both pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine levels, leading to immune dysregulation and increasing the likelihood of incurring cardiac and pulmonary injuries. Areas covered: Longer periods of hospitalization (similar to 20 days) increase susceptibility to ICU-acquired muscle weakness and deconditioning, which decreases muscle function and functional capacity. These conditions affect the quality of life in the post-COVID-19 period and require multi-disciplinary approaches to rehabilitate the cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal systems of these patients. In this context, this narrative review, which included articles published in the Embase, PEDro and PubMed databases up to December 2020, is focused on discussing the essential role of exercise and rehabilitation health professionals in the COVID-19 recovery process, from hospitalization to hospital discharge, addressing strategies for professionals to mitigate the cardiac and pulmonary impairments associated with hospitalization to home or ambulatory rehabilitation, purposing ways to conduct rehabilitation programs to restore their functional status and quality of life after the infection. Expert opinion: In the current environment, these findings further point to the vital role of rehabilitation health professionals in the coming years and the urgent need to develop strategies to assist COVID-19 survivors.