In-bed cycling in ICU could shorten patient stay, improve physical function
Even ventilated patients can exercise in ICU and leave hospital with more muscle strength: authors.
ICU patients could benefit significantly from in-bed cycling, with such exercise improving physical function and possibly shortening intensive care stays, a review finds.
Even sedated and ventilated patients can safely exercise using cycling ergometry devices, which are used by strapping a patient’s legs to pedals, say the Canadian authors.
Patients can then execute cycling movements, with the machine’s settings varied from fully motor-controlled to active-assisted or fully active.
“In-bed cycling can start very early in a patient’s stay and can occur while a patient is sedated and during mechanical ventilation, two common barriers to starting early rehabilitation activities,” the research team from McMaster University in Canada wrote.
