A community gym is playing a crucial role in supporting patients with Long COVID through a pioneering study into how power-assisted exercise can help in their rehabilitation.
West Berkshire Therapy Centre is set to support 100 people living with the post-COVID syndrome through a 20-session programme, with its evaluation of their outcomes set to be some of the first research into rehabilitation for the debilitating condition.
The centre has raised over £19,000 to fund the study, titled ‘The role of power-assisted exercise in the rehabilitation of Long COVID’, with a further £10,000 grant secured by Dr Deepak Ravindran, who runs Berkshire Long COVID Integrated Service, which will enable the study to be bigger than initially planned.
Dr Ravindran, a pain consultant at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, has referred patients to the physio-led West Berkshire Therapy Centre since its creation in 2014, and its ability to deliver both physical and psychological benefits to its clients has led to it now supporting the rehabilitation of people with Long COVID.
To date, the centre’s work has been proven to improve client mobility by an average of ten per cent and psychological outlook by 15 per cent, with hopes that may extend into its new cohort of Long COVID patients.
“For several years we have worked with clients with fibromyalgia and we have the equipment here which can support them, so we wanted to use our experience and equipment to offer some help,” says John Holt, trustee at the centre who was instrumental in its creation.
“If you go back to March 2020, myself and the team were stuck at home feeling useless, but now all of a sudden, we have this opportunity to help clients living with this new condition.
“People tell us it helps them and that’s all we need to know, but now through our evaluation, we hope this could mean something to researchers. We’re completely geared up for it, our staff are all on a high.
“We will be referred 100 Long COVID clients with a variety of complexities, they may have mental effects or heart impairment or reduced mobility, some will have mild disability and for others that will be more significant. We will look at all of that and then do our assessments to see what is safe.
“We will be guided by the clients – we know a bit, Dr Ravindran knows a lot, but they know most about this condition. We may discover our service makes no difference to Long COVID – we’re not trying to set out to show what a brilliant service we offer, we want to continue to make a difference to people’s lives through finding out what can work.”
The project is being part-financed by the fundraising of the team at the centre, with John himself using the power-assisted equipment to cycle the last stage of the Tour de France and climb the world’s tallest building. The first £5,000 they raised was double match funded by Greenham Trust.
“I climbed the world’s tallest building in an hour – the world record is six hours. One of my colleagues rowed the English Channel. It shows the impact our equipment can have on exercise and rehabilitation without the physical exertion,” says John.
The centre, which was founded in 2014 to bridge a gap in community resources, undertook various fundraising activities last month to finance the project, has grown significantly to play a role at the heart of its community.
Initially open for 20 hours a week with ten items of equipment, it has since expanded into premises twice the size of its initial home, with 17 items of equipment which clients can access for 35 hours each week.
While the centre was forced to close during lockdown periods, the investment in its offering has continued, with a further £17,500 being spent to upgrade equipment. It has now re-opened, but at 60 per cent capacity and social distancing and the wearing of PPE will remain in place even beyond July 19.
“We are keeping the two-metre distancing, even though that means some of our equipment is out of commission, and the wearing of PPE will continue,” adds John.
“We will have a very slow relaxation and are happy to lag behind the rest of the country. We want our clients to be confident this is one of the safest places they can go to – people deserve that.”
