EFFECTS OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATION ON LONG COVID SYNDROME SYMPTOMS – A SINGLE CASE STUDY

Andrea Dincher*

ABSTRACT

Background: More than 760 million people had a COVID-19 infection. Many of them are not recovered even though symptoms like cough or fever are gone. Patients suffer from fatigue, depression, attention deficits and decreased motor fitness. Exercise therapy is well investigated in different disorders, as well as Whole Body Vibration. For this, a training intervention using Whole body vibration as a smooth therapeutic alternative to medication is investigated in this study. Materials and Methods: A 54 year-old female Long Covid patient underwent a training intervention on a vibration platform (12-weeks, 1 x/week 30 min, each set lasting 60 s with a rest between sets of 60 s). Investigated were depression (BDI-II), fatigue (FAS), attention (d2-test), and motor fitness before and after the intervention. Results: Improvements in depression, fatigue and attention are visible as well as improvements in trunk strength, flexibility, and endurance. Conclusions: Whole body vibration seems to be a good alternative to improve Long Covid syndrome symptoms. For this, a pilot study should follow.

Keywords: Long Covid, Exercise therapy, Whole body vibration, Rehabilitation.