Before catching COVID-19 last year, Kerry Jones loved rowing and attending yoga classes.

It is only now, after battling long COVID for months, that she feels well enough to get back to some of her favourite activities. 

“I just really didn’t have enough energy,” Ms Jones said.

“Everything I did became harder and harder. I didn’t recover from doing things as much as I could before.

She is now having her heart scanned to check it is looking and working as it should, as part of her participation in a landmark study.

The PERCIEVE study, run out of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, and the Menzies Institute in Hobart, is looking into how exercise might be able to help improve symptoms in people suffering long COVID.

So far, it is showing promising results.

In its pilot form, the study has found that a personalised exercise program seems to be effective when it comes to helping people who have a reduced capacity for exercise after having COVID-19.

About one-quarter of participants in the pilot program fit into that cohort. 

After participating in the exercise regimen, they experienced about a 15 per cent increase in the amount of exercise they were able to do. 

Leading cardiologist and principal investigator for the PERCEIVE study, Tom Marwick, said he was “thrilled” with the results so far. 

“Major medical illnesses lead to loss of strength and wellbeing and exercise capacity. And it’s that aspect that [the exercise program] is effective for,” Professor Marwick said. 

“It’s not a cure for all of the symptoms of long COVID but there are people who get significant benefit from this, and what we best need to understand is who is it that most benefits and how best to deliver it for them.” 

He said participants were often severely compromised after having COVID-19, feeling limited and at times depressed. 

“We haven’t even characterised the illness adequately at the moment, so to see some of them showing a significant symptomatic benefit, that’s a great result,” he said. 

Exercise will not help everyone with long COVID

The exercise programs were personalised for each of the individuals participating, and were mostly focused on aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling. 

Participants were paired with an exercise physiologist, who could ramp up the activity as the trial went on.

Ms Jones will soon be prescribed some exercise as part of the study. 

She joined the trial because she wants to make sure others do not go through what she did, but she is also hoping it brings her a bit more energy.

Interestingly, the study found that many participants perceived their exercise capacity to be less than what it was. 

“It’s understandable,” Professor Marwick said.

“When they’re exercising, they’re feeling fatigued, they feel terrible. 

“In some situations, that arises from the brain fog, in other situation that arises from a direct effect on the heart or direct effect on the muscles, so there’s a lot of contributors to that.”

But the findings also came with a warning: Exercise will not help everyone with long COVID. 

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“We think that this is a situation where exercise needs to be, if you like, prescribed. It’s like medication,” Professor Marwick said. 

“It’s not giving a message to people post-COVID that they need to exercise. It’s not helpful because everyone’s ability to exercise and ability to increase their exercise is different.” 

He said individuals suffering post-COVID should not jump straight into aerobic exercise without correct medical supervision. 

Anyone interested in participating in the study can visit the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute website.

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