Physiotherapy
Post COVID Recovery Program
Retrain Your Body After a COVID-19 diagnosis
Are your legs weaker? Do you have dizziness that wasn't there before? Shortness of breath? There are so many different post-COVID symptoms that can be due to your body's now inhibited ability to handle the loads of daily activity. This is why so many people who have had a moderate, serious or hospitalization due to COVID-19 find they have trouble completing tasks that were easy to do before. Sometimes, even making it up the stairs can be a challenge. You may also have other new and baffling symptoms that feel like they are not going away, even though you have recovered from the virus itself. The current PACER research is demonstrating solutions that are within your reach.
The aim of our Post-COVID Recovery Program is to restore mobility, strength, and functional tolerance through a combination of physical rehabilitation and technological monitoring to help you achieve your activity goals.
Step 1 Evaluate
To ensure a safe yet effective treatment program, we will use physical tests to establish your baseline and ensure we safely and adequately challenge you throughout the sessions. We will use medical equipment such as blood flow restriction cuffs which work your muscles harder with less strain on your breathing. We will also monitor your oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Step 2 Build a Plan
Taking your history into account, we will build the right plan for your needs. It's going to take some time and a whole lot of hard work, so let's make sure we are going in the right direction together.
Step 3 Get to it!
Over time we will progress your customized exercise program from beginner to intermediate and possibly advanced to get the right muscles working again. We want to help you regain most of your ability to complete the activities you are used to, in order to attain your rehabilitation goals.
We will assess the root cause of your new symptoms and will work with you to understand and rehabilitate the systems that will make the biggest difference. Your treatment plan will be customized based on your therapeutic needs and goals.
Working directly with a Physiotherapist allows for some important elements in your favour.
- We can direct bill your insurance plan
- Your plan is tailored based on the latest evidence
- Your progression is medically supervised
The Post-COVID Recovery Program has the ability to be performed virtually with the right equipment (call us to coordinate a product package for this program).
In order to participate...
Participants should be 12 years of age or older.
A negative diagnosis is required. It's important to have a minimum of 8 weeks once those results have been confirmed before starting.
It is ok (and expected!) to still have some long covid symptoms such as shortness of breath, difficulty completing daily activities, fatigue, weakness, or being generally deconditioned as long as you can safely walk and stand, unassisted. If you still have excessive coughing or sneezing, or are struggling with the ability to understand instructions, give it a bit more time for basic recovery. Also see our list of alternate resources below.
Collaboration with your family physician is going to be very important with this program. We will be sure to keep your family doctor appraised of your progress and will collaborate with them as necessary.
This transformative program is currently available at our Creekside and Seton locations. Please call Seton at (403) 455-6865 or Creekside at 403-239-6773.
If you still have symptoms or are more recently recovered from hospital, there are different resources available to more acute cases. Here is a short list from Alberta Health Services:
- Alberta Healthly Living Program
- Community Rehabilitation
- ICU Recovery Clinic FMC
- Calgary Voice Program
- Outpatient Dysphagia Clinic
Suggested reading: Kaylie Wilson's blog on Blood Flow Restriction training for uses other than Post-COVID.
