Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies
Date Submitted: May 28, 2021
Date Accepted: Jan 11, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jan 13, 2022
Occupational and Physical Therapy Strategies for the Rehabilitation of COVID-19-Related Guillain-Barré Syndrome in the Long-term Acute Care Hospital Setting: Case Report
Background:
Although several reports have described the diagnosis and treatment of patients with COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), there is a paucity of literature describing the occupational and physical therapy (OT and PT) strategies used in the long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) setting to rehabilitate these patients.
Objective:
To expand this body of literature, we present a case report highlighting the treatment strategies used to rehabilitate and discharge an individual from an independent LTACH facility, following diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19-related GBS at a regional ACH.
Methods:
A 61-year-old male was admitted to an LTACH for the rehabilitation of GBS following COVID-19 infection and intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. Rehabilitation in the LTACH setting uses a variety of skilled treatment interventions to meet patient-driven goals and maximize their function to the highest level possible in preparation of their discharge to a subacute or homecare setting. In this case, this was accomplished through individual OT and PT sessions, OT/PT cotreatment sessions, and targeted group therapy sessions focused on leg, arm, and fine motor coordination exercises.
Results:
With the OT and PT standard of care, the patient’s improvement was demonstrated by several outcome measures, including manual muscle testing, range of motion, grip strength, and the activity measure for postacute care. The patient was successfully rehabilitated and returned to the community after presenting with COVID-19-associated GBS.
Conclusions:
This report highlights the complex rehabilitation needs patients require to regain independence after diagnosis of COVID-19-associated GBS.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.