Study: Long COVID Makes Exercise Debilitating

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • A new study published on Thursday in the journal Nature Communications found that people with long COVID who exercise can experience changes to the body, including severe muscle damage, mitochondrial problems, and microclots. This, researchers believe, is the reason these patients feel fatigued and in pain for long periods after working out.1
  • According to the study, specific bodily effects from long COVID include exercise intolerance, metabolic issues, exercise-induced muscle defects, and the development of amyloid-containing deposits in skeletal muscles. Researchers analyzed the blood and skeletal muscle biopsies of 25 long COVID patients and 21 healthy individuals before and after a maximal exercise test.2
  • In their biopsies before the exercise test, which consisted of 10-15 minutes on a bicycle, patients with long COVID had a greater proportion of white fibers than their healthy counterparts. These fibers contain less mitochondria — the powerhouses of cells — and didn't work as well.3
  • Lower exercise capacity in patients wasn't linked to the ventilatory and central cardiovascular system but rather impairment to their skeletal muscle metabolism, and thus a lower capacity to carry energy to skeletal muscles.2
  • The long COVID patients also had more tissue damage than the control group, prompting their bodies to try and repair themselves. Rob Wüst, one of the authors of the study conducted at Free University Amsterdam, said this explains the 'muscle pain that these patients are experiencing after exercise.'3

Sources: 1Independent, 2Nature and 3Guardian.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Time. For years now, the world has known about both the dangers of long COVID and the potential benefits of the vaccine for combatting it. More recently, the British Medical Association published a study showing one pre-infection dose of an original vaccine can reduce the risk of long COVID by 21%, two doses by 59%, and three or more doses by 73%. If you want to protect yourself against this debilitating disease, getting vaccinated is the solution.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Petermcculloughmd. When dealing with complex phenomena like this, no professional should make absolute claims. Everyone, especially doctors, should acknowledge that other studies have found vaccinations to be one of the primary predictors of long COVID. If blanket prescriptions for all of society are made without analyzing opposing data, there should be no surprise when there's public backlash to vaccine injuries.

Predictions