The state of physical medicine: Taking the lead on Long COVID treatment

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recognized early in the COVID-19 pandemic that many survivors would face lasting health consequences requiring specialized care, drawing on the specialty's historical experience helping polio survivors manage long-term impairments. The Academy moved quickly to document and publicize the scope of long COVID, the condition in which patients continue experiencing symptoms such as reduced endurance and diminished tolerance for routine activities long after their initial infection. John C. Cianca, M.D., FAAPMR, president of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, explains more.

Medical Economics: The Academy was really a leading medical organization that began documenting numbers of patients dealing with long COVID and their health conditions. Why was Long COVID so important to the Academy?

John C. Cianca, M.D., FAAPMR: Well, we recognized early that it was going to be an ongoing problem. People did survive. Unfortunately, many did not. But those that did survive had and do have a host of problems that became obvious to us that were going to need attention. And we've had history with this kind of situation. Polio, for instance. Polio affected people broadly in a number of ways. We were front and center to helping those people deal with the aftereffects. So we recognized there's probably going to be a need here as well. So we got involved in the post-COVID infection environment very early, and I think we made a big difference in helping the public in general, and maybe even the government, recognize that this isn't just a one-off virus, it either kills you or you survive. Many people still are dealing with effects of COVID in some form. I've seen people recently that said, you know, I had COVID three years ago, and I've never been quite the same, either for something like their endurance or their ability to tolerate things that they normally did or previously did without any thought, and now they have to prepare or they have to recover. So, to our credit I think, we saw what was going to happen, and we got to it. And I think many of my colleagues, were very adept at recognizing it and then coalescing people to help present this to the world as a thing, something that we're going to have to deal with.