Covid-19, Long Covid | New long covid study surprises – Norwegian researcher snorts

(Nettavisen): The phenomenon is something that has affected many since the pandemic. People affected by long covid often experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations and muscle weakness.

In that context, studies have shown that exercise can for some make pain worse. is among those who say that people suffering from long covid should not participate in intense training to avoid worsening symptoms.

But a new study conducted by Swedish , which the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet mentions, may indicate something else. Together with a research group, they have made new discoveries that indicate that it does not necessarily have to be harder for someone with long covid to exercise.

In the study, 31 people with chronic covid and 31 people who did not had it were brought in. They then chose one “matching» person with each individual participant, where gender, age and BMI should be the same as the other.

– So no difference

The participants went through a series of medical examinations. Among other things, blood samples were taken and and they tested both lung capacity and muscle strength, according to Aftonbladet.

The researchers checked the participants’ symptom levels both before, immediately and two days after the training exercises.

– When we compared how the post-covid patients performed compared to the test group, we saw no general difference, nor any significant increase in their symptoms, says Andrea Tryfonos to Aftonbladet.

Tryfonos is a researcher at the institution for laboratory medicine at Karolinska Institutet, the medical university that has carried out the study.

She acknowledges that the study is small, but that it says enough that the advice on exercise should be changed.

Doctor skeptical of the study

Doctor and researcher Arne Søraas, who is behind the largest Norwegian corona study, is skeptical of the study. He points out that there are few participants.

– It is a small study, so it is therefore not very good at ruling out negative effects of exercise on all chronic covid patients. Now almost everyone has had covid, and I see that very many different symptoms are reported to be “long-covid” – many more symptoms than we find in the Corona study, says Søraas to Nettavisen.

He still supports that in general you can train as normal with long covid.

– Long covid patients should basically train like everyone else. If they become particularly exhausted after training and this occurred after covid, then they should find out. Covid patients are exposed to other diseases which can also be triggered or worsened by covid, including cardiovascular diseases, says the doctor.

Sound the alarm

In other words, Søraas believes that if you struggle with exercise after having the coronavirus, there may soon be other underlying factors behind it.

– You can’t just apologize and say it’s covid. A significant deterioration in physical fitness can be a sign of a number of serious illnesses, such as heart disease. You should always talk to a doctor, says Søraas.

The WHO therefore recommends dropping intensive training if you are struggling with long covid. The doctor believes this is the background for the advice to the WHO:

– When it comes to the WHO and their recommendations, a lot needs to be done to change them. At least much more than a study with 31 plus 31 people. They tend to have as standard that the advice is thoroughly documented.