Rehabilitation of mechanically ventilated elderly patient with COVID-19 of a dedicated COVID tertiary hospital: a case report

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a highly communicable disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV2) which originated in Wuhan, China has affected 213 countries worldwide and has caused an economic crisis. As of August10, 2020, India’s recovery rate is 63%. Most of the critical cases requiring intensive care unit (ICU) management are elderly patients with co-morbidities. The case report is of an elderly, comorbid patient who was intubated and put on a mechanical ventilator. At a time when critical patients on mechanical ventilator hardly survived, this patient survived and was successfully weaned from the ventilator and extubated. The case report emphasizes physical therapy management along with medical management for an elderly SARS CoV2 survivor with co-morbidities, and his journey from the onset of symptoms to being mechanically ventilated to performing his daily activities with minimal discomfort.