Efficacy of Baduanjin Exercise in Patients with Idiopathic Chronic Fatigue Who Additionally Survived from COVID-19 Contraction: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Idiopathic chronic fatigue (ICF) is an annoying debilitating condition with unclear aetiology. Symptoms ICF usually resemble symptoms of post-viral syndromes such as post-COVID syndrome. The symptoms are decreased pulmonary functions, low sleep quality, low quality of life, decreased exercise tolerance, and repeated perception of fatigue. Effective rehabilitation strategies to address multidimensional symptoms in this population of post-COVID syndrome and ICF are limited. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of Baduanjin exercise training (BET) - a traditional Chinese mind-body practice - on fatigue, pulmonary function, psychological well-being, sleep quality, physical performance, and quality of life in ICF patients following recovery from COVID attack. Material and Methods: Forty individuals who were previously diagnosed with ICF prior to contracting COVID-19 were involved in this study. The patients were enrolled after the recovery from COVID. Participants were equally assigned to a 12-week supervised BET group (this group contained twenty patients who received a 60-minute session, six days per week) or a waitlist non-trained control group (n=20 patients). The outcomes of this study included pulmonary functions (forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in the first one second of expiration), physical fitness (assessed by maximal push-ups, 30-second sit-to-stand test, 6-minute walk test, and Ruffier test), Beck depression inventory, Pittsburgh sleep quality index, physical and mental component summaries of short form 36, modified Borg dyspnea scale, and the Buzhongyiqi-Tang questionnaire. Results: It was reported that participants in the BET group demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all measured outcomes following the 12-week intervention (p < 0.05). In contrast, no significant/detectable changes were observed in the waitlist non-trained control group. Conclusions: In conclusion, BET enhances physical performance, psychological status, sleep quality, life quality, and pulmonary functions in patients with ICF experiencing post-COVID sequelae.