A 66-year-old male started to present symptoms of fever, dyspnea, coughing, asthenia, lack of appetite, nausea, and vomiting. He was admitted to the acute care unit for observation and oxygen therapy, but his oxygen requirements constantly increased due to moderate ARDS. After 12 days of deep sedation, neuromuscular blocking agents, and proning with daily passive range of motion, the patient finally started to initiate active movements and was passively transferred to a chair. However, due to a persisting difficult weaning status, probably related to respiratory muscle weakness, tracheostomy was performed [ventilator settings: pressure support 10 cmH2O, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) 8 cmH2O]. Subsequently, the patient showed significant improvement in his physical functions with active SOEB, chair-transfer with the help of 2 physical therapists, and active in-bed cycling against resistance for 20 minutes (). The strategy was to increase pressure support (by 5 cmH2O) during efforts to reinforce exercise training effects, unloading respiratory muscles. This strategy along with a highly collaborative patient culminated in his rapid improvement in physical function (MRC-SS 58/60, physical function ICU test score 10/12, walking distance 10 m), although he was still experiencing fatigue, inspiratory muscle weakness (maximal inspiratory pressure of −45 cmH2O) and dysphagia upon his transfer to a step-down unit.
This 69-year-old male was admitted to the ICU after a dry cough for 2 weeks, oxygenation was poor and computer tomographic imaging showed typical COVID-19 pneumonia. Initially the patient received lung-protective ventilation and targeted sedation, but was otherwise stable. Treatment interventions included passive range of motion and positioning including passive mobilization into a side-edge position (). Over the next days, the patient deteriorated with hemodynamic instability and severe ARDS leading to intermittent prone positioning and continuous renal replacement therapy. The role of physical therapists during proning was to ensure correct joint positioning and pressure prophylaxis to prevent secondary complications such as nerve lesions, contractures, or pressure ulcers. Nevertheless, the long duration and repeated positioning resulted in a small pressure ulcer on the patient’s forehead. After tracheostomy, passive range-of-motion exercises, and passive side-edge mobilization were slowly resumed, whereby asynchronous ventilation and hemodynamic instability remained 2 major problems leading to further sedation and relaxation, thus inhibiting any active participation. After 24 days in the ICU, the patient scored 1/50 points on the Chelsea Critical Care Physical Assessment Tool (CPAx) and showed severe signs of muscle loss. The patient died soon after withdrawal of life support.