DEEP OSCILLATION® THERAPY - CAN IT BE EFFECTIVE IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19 AND POST - COVID SYNDROME

Treatment of patients with COVID-19, prevention of respiratory and other affected systems complications, prevention of multisystem damage and faster recovery possibilities and disease consequences overcoming is a particularly relevant topic today, when the number of people who have suffered from acute coronavirus infection is increasing. A tendency to shift the focus from acute manifestations to long-term morbidity and chronic involvement of various organs and systems is observed. In these subacute and chronic phases of illness, the application of physical modalities would be potentially effective. Traditionally, physical and rehabilitation medicine deals with patients with combined pathologies in order to reduce the duration of treatment and to speed up after-illness recovery. Deep Oscillation® therapy is a relatively new physical modality that is successfully applied to a number of diseases, including inflammatory pathologies of respiratory and musculoskeletal system, trauma, burns, fibrosis prevention, edema reduction, muscle relaxation etc. The purpose of this article is to make a review of the potential therapeutic effects of the Deep Oscillation® therapy application to patients suffering from COVID-19 and/or post-COVID-19 syndrome. Materials and methods: A review of the available literature was performed, including reports, articles, feedback letters regarding the application of Deep Oscillation® therapy. The search for scientific articles was conducted in the bibliographic database of Pub Med, Google Scholar, Elsevier. Results matching the following keywords were searched: Deep Oscillation® therapy, low-frequency and low-intensity electrostatic field, COVID-19, COVID-pneumonia, post-COVID-19 syndrome, long COVID, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, chronic COVID syndrome, diseases of the respiratory system, pneumonia, obstructive bronchitis, asthma, edema, lymphedema, musculoskeletal symptoms after COVID-19, chronic pain, myalgia, arthralgia, chronic back pain, fatigue. Results: The review made found evidence regarding the anti-inflammatory, anti-edematous, pain-reducing, and anti-fibrotic effects observed with the application of Deep Oscillation® in various diseases, including such of lungs. At this time, no research data were found regarding the application of Deep Oscillation® in patients with COVID-19 or after illness except for a brief communication in the form of a feedback letter regarding the therapy application in individual clinical cases of patients with COVID -19. Conclusion: The scientific studies carried out so far testify of established anti-inflammatory, -swelling and pain-reducing effects, fibrosis reduction possibilities, muscle spasm reduction, local microcirculation improvement and anti-lymphedematous effects of Deep Oscillation® application in various diseases, including lung diseases. These data suggest that a possible positive effect of the low-frequency electrostatic field can also be assumed in patients with COVID-19. Now, however, there are no clinical studies conducted about the Deep Oscillation® application effect in patients with COVID-19 and post COVID-19. Low-frequency electrostatic field therapy is probably an appropriate adjuvant therapy but cannot be recommended as a therapeutic modality in daily clinical practice in patients with COVID-19 due to the lack of reported therapeutic benefits in scientific reports. In the presence of convincing scientific evidence, this opinion is subject to correction. At the same time, it would be appropriate to determine the benefit of this therapy in post-COVID-19 recovery and persistent arthralgia and musculoskeletal symptoms.