• Jaewon Beom, Jongtak Jung, In-Chang Hwang, Young-Jae Cho, Eu S Kim, Hong B Kim, Jae-Young Lim, and Kyoung-Ho Song.
• Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea.
• Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2020 Dec 1; 56 (6): 858-861.

BackgroundSurvivors of critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) suffer from severe physical functional disability. Recent reports from several countries suggest that rehabilitative intervention is needed to improve physical functional decline in the challenging situation of COVID-19.Case ReportA 58-year-old woman, previously without gait difficulty, was diagnosed with COVID-19 requiring endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. She also developed stress-induced cardiomyopathy. After management in intensive care unit for 15 days, she could not sit on a bed without back support. After receiving short-term inpatient rehabilitation therapy, lower limb muscle strength, balance function, and gait speed had rapidly and significantly improved at the time of hospital discharge and at 1-month follow-up.Clinical Rehabilitation ImpactAs COVID-19 tends to progress rapidly in the acute phase, early rehabilitation is necessary, despite challenges to its implementation. Feasible inpatient rehabilitation for patients with critical COVID-19 will pave the way to improve physical functional disability.

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