A Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Approach to Chronic Pain Patients in the Post-COVID-19 Era.

BACKGROUND

The global health care system has been shaken by the unprecedented pandemic. Chronic pain management has suffered through the pandemic due to lack of access and challenges in care delivery only to be faced by a new set of chronic pain conditions resulting from prolonged and persistent COVID-19 symptoms referred to as "long COVID syndrome."

OBJECTIVES

Long COVID is emerging as a complex and debilitating condition that occurs in a subpopulation of patients following acute COVID-19 infection. Our goals were to explore how to best treat and manage long COVID syndrome based on current experience.

METHODS

This is a perspective rather than a systematic review. It is based on the limited available literature and current clinical experience.

RESULTS

Although a few pharmacological agents have been proposed to mitigate symptoms, none have emerged to provide meaningful, long-term pain relief. Long COVID is associated with numerous and diverse symptoms. Risk factors for developing long COVID subsequent to acute COVID-19 remain unknown. Due to the multidimensional impact of long COVID chronic pain, a structured interdisciplinary rehabilitation model has been proposed to relieve pain, restore function, and maximize quality of life.

LIMITATIONS

This is a perspective with an editorial point of view rather than a systematic literature study. Long COVID syndrome is a new condition, with which no clinicians have extensive experience. This is not a systematic review so there is no Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses diagram. This is not a clinical study so there was no need for institutional review board approvals.

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment goals for the postviral syndrome of long COVID are multifaceted. In addition to pain control, patients may have functional deficits, cognitive issues, mental health issues, and reduced quality of life. Thus, a structured interdisciplinary rehabilitation model seems most appropriate to manage long COVID.

KEY WORDS

Chronic pain, long COVID, pandemic, COVID-19, brain fog, fatigue, pain program, functional restoration, back pain, joint pain.