Regularly pedaling intensive care patients would be an effective and safe solution to maintain muscle strength in bedridden patients, according to results of a study published in the medical journal Plos One. This experiment, called TryCycle, should lead to future clinical trials.
Researchers at McMaster University in Canada performed an experiment with 33 patients in an intensive care unit. Participants with an average age of 65 were on so-called “invasive ventilation” and were able to walk. They have implemented a device to increase the use of their muscles, minimize muscle loss and accelerate the recovery of patients in intensive care.
Pedal for better recovery
At the foot of the beds were fixed kinds of pedals which allowed the patients to simulate the practice of the bicycle.
During the experiment, patients cycled for 30 minutes, six days a week, starting activity within three days of admission for acute respiratory failure. Sessions lasted a maximum of 28 days. In total, they will have cycled 9 kilometers during their stay.
The team of researchers verified the benefits of the practice of TryCycle in intensive care from October 2013 to August 2014.
“It was completely possible and safe for this type of patient to provide physical effort in the first days of hospitalization, provided they had stable blood circulation” concluded Michelle Kho, researcher at the School of Rehabilitation. , McMaster University, Hamilton.
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