UV experts publish therapeutic exercise programs for people with physical ailments

Experts from the Faculty of Physical Therapy of Valencia University (UV) are warning that the physical exercise programs that have flooded the internet since the confinement due to the COVID-19 crisis can worsen the symptoms of people with physical ailments and lead to catastrophisation and pain chronification.

The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has caused the confinement of the Spanish population in order to stop the virus from spreading. This has led a large part of the population to carry out physical exercise at home.

However, as they warn from the UV's Faculty of Physical Therapy, people with pain or who are recovering from a physical ailment or injury have to be careful with the exercises they conduct.

Professor Pilar Serra explains that these people should not do physical exercise that is not adapted to their clinical condition because, otherwise, their symptoms could worsen.

"But it is important that they have therapeutic programs they can carry out at home to try to recover mobility and decrease the pain," Serra says.

When one suffers long-term pain, and in light of the forecasts we have it sems like this situation will not be resolved quickly, it is not only felt physically, but it leads to psychological consequences such as pain catastrophisation, a psychosocial construct specific to pain, which leads to pessimism on the pain and its evolution which, at the same time, is considered a risk factor for its chronification,"

Pilar  Serra, Professor, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Valencia University

Pilar Serra says that "this affects physical condition, because it has been proven that, the higher the level of catastrophism, the less muscular resistance, and therefore, greater fatigue."

Alongside the neuromuscular impairing, it also negatively affects the cardiovascular, immune and neuroendocrine systems. All this, says the professor, causes an alteration of functional capabilities; in other words, a decrease in the ability to conduct basic daily activities.

In order to counter these issues, the Faculty of Physical Therapy has developed several programs with therapeutic exercises, and will continue to do so while the confinement lasts.

They are written and audio-visual documents to provide some exercises that can be don eat home and are specific for certain pathologies or injuries.

"They must always be done carefully, because the ideal situation is to do them under the guidance of the physical therapist which, in this case, is not possible," recalls Pilar Serra.

The professor notes that it is necessary for people to stay active, but in the presence of an injury or ailment, programs must adapt to the clinical picture of each patient to avoid unwanted secondary effects.