What is some kindness I can do for my body after covid?

January 4, 2023 10:11 AM

I had a particularly bad case of covid in which I was bedridden for about a week and a half. What are some gentle things I can do to help get my body moving again. Anything you did after a similar experience of being laid up in bed, would be helpful too.

I realize a week and a half doesn't seem like a lot, but it really hurt my body to be lying around for so long. I can now get out of bed again, but my body feels terrible, a lot of hip and back pain in particular - partially from covid and partially from lying in bed for so long. Tips, exercises, movements, videos and articles - whatever - are all welcome.

posted by Toddles to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

According to NYT, try zinc, elderberry, and vitamin C.
posted by theora55 at 10:29 AM on January 4, 2023

Well, I got the first massage of my life after I was coming out of my Covid fog. Once I tested negative, I hadn't felt so safe around strangers since the pandemic began: not going to transmit a surprise to anyone, and unlikely to catch it again immediately. It was a great experience, and it really helped me feel less stiff.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 10:30 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

It's amazing to me how much gentle stretching (at least once a day) has done for my body. I have early onset arthritis and I hurt all the time. Getting back into stretching has been a godsend.
posted by cooker girl at 10:31 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

ooh boy I cannot imagine the state my body would be in after "only" a week and a half in bed. I have lots of hips/back issues. one thing I find that helps is frequent short gentle walks. like, around the block, two or three times a day if you can. gets the blood flowing but its super low impact. nthing gentle stretching as well.
posted by supermedusa at 10:39 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

When I'm stiff and sore from being laid up sick, I'll have long soak in a hot bath with plenty of Epsom salts, then towel off in a manner as near to vigorous as is achievable, then do half an hour's gentle and very slow stretching in front of a warm fire. I'll walk, too, as and when I become able.

Don't pay supermarket prices for chichi little cardboard boxes of Epsom salts, get somebody to visit a feed store or gardening centre for you and grab a 20kg bag of magnesium sulphate heptahydrate (the chemistry name for Epsom salts) so you can dump at least half a kg into each bath.
posted by flabdablet at 11:13 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

Gentle stretching is good, but take any kind of cardio (including walking at anything other than a gentle pace) very slowly, because diving back into physical activity too fast can contribute to the development of long covid.

The most important thing to know, is that often with long covid/post viral conditions, the effects of doing too much activity don't make themselves known in your body for a couple of days (google 'post exertional malaise' for more on this). So you don't know at the time you're being active that you've overdone it: You just feel like shit a couple of days later and it can be hard to connect the dots.

The way to get around it safely is to introduce a new kind of activity, then wait 2 or 3 days and check that it doesn't have any ill effects on your body. If it seems fine, you can repeat it and maybe ramp it up very slightly, and wait again, see how that affects you.

It might seem tedious, but it's better than chronic illness.
posted by penguin pie at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2023 [10 favorites]

I'm aware this is not a small kindness, but if you're looking for a new bed, adjustable ones have come down in price A LOT. If you are a Costco member check out on line. Because.... amazing.
posted by atomicstone at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

REST.

Goodness. Rest as much as you can. It might be a while - a few weeks? A couple months? More, if you're unlucky. Convalesce. Indulge yourself. Eat well.
posted by entropone at 1:08 PM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

This sounds like a job for a physical therapist! Ask your doctor if you can get a referral to one.
posted by capricorn at 1:21 PM on January 4, 2023

What helped me was light short walks and very gentle slow yoga. It took me about 2 months to fall back to “normal”
posted by spindrifter at 1:24 PM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

Are you taking NSAIDs or other doc-approved pain relief on a schedule as you heal?
Lots of fluids & electrolytes, maybe a magnesium citrate or glycinate supplement at bedtime.
I think the recommendation is no more than 2 cups of Epsom salts in a standard-size bath, to avoid parched skin and a super-slippery tub.
If you have a dryer at home, warm your clothes before putting them on.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:39 PM on January 4, 2023

Massage.
I once had a Thai massage after an ilness, it was amazingly restorative.
posted by bluedora at 11:05 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Be kind to yourself: a PT recently told me that for every day you spend bedridden, it takes your body four days to recover.

I am pro gentle stretches! Like really, really, ankle circles, point and flex your toes gentle.
posted by athirstforsalt at 2:20 AM on January 5, 2023

If you can get a sports massage, do it! I was laid up for a long time with COVID, and getting someone to physically wrangle my muscles was so helpful.
posted by In Your Shell Like at 9:10 AM on January 5, 2023