[Sanatorium-health resort stage of medical rehabilitation of astronauts after long-term space flight].

This paper presents observations over 18 cosmonauts who participated in space flights of 75 days to 12 months and stayed in a sanatorium in the city of Kislovodsk thereafter. The rehabilitation stage continued for 30-40 days. The early stage of rehabilitation lasted 2-3 weeks at the cosmodrome or Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. They were taken to a sanatorium for further medical rehabilitation when they showed residual phenomena of postflight fatigue, incomplete recovery of the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, hematological, biochemical and immunological changes. Rehabilitation measures included physical training, terrain cure, balneological procedures. Medical monitoring was performed using physical examinations, arterial pressure and heart rate measurement, ECG, Holter monitoring during terrain cure, and blood and urine clinical analysis. The results showed a beneficial development of readaptation, increase of functional capabilities and physical work capacity of crewmembers. Final physical examinations gave evidence that most physiological parameters returned to the preflight level. Increase of flight duration to 11-12 months did not cause increase of post-recovery duration.