Ameliorative effects of multiple bedside-assisted exercise on the rehabilitation of mechanically ventilated patients

Early exercise is beneficial for mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients. However, there remains a paucity of research data on the pattern of early assisted exercise delivery and the role of active and passive exercise modalities.

Herein, we collected 349 mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Tianjin First Central Hospital from April 2020 to 2022 and divided them into a control group (176 patients) and an exercise intervention group (173 patients) according to whether or not early rehabilitative exercise was performed.

The results showed that the maximum negative inspiratory pressure, rapid shallow breathing index, limb muscle strength, swelling index, some clinical physicochemical indexes, the number of days of endotracheal intubation, the use of sedative and analgesic drugs, the duration of delirium, and the final prognosis of patients in the intervention group were all improved to different degrees. Subgroup analyses showed that compound and active movement patterns were more conducive to the recovery of limb muscle strength than single assisted movement patterns, but faced higher consumption of sedative and analgesic drugs.

Our results suggest that early bedside-assisted exercise is beneficial, but still needs to be matched appropriately to the patient's condition in order to maximize the patient's prognosis. Our study provides valuable data to support subsequent clinical practice of early bedside-assisted training and the establishment of relevant guidelines.