Rehabilitation in Critically Ill Patients

Prolonged stay in the hospital and difficult response to pharmacotherapy can often lead to severe complications in critically ill patients for muscle weakness, physical deconditioning, recurrent symptoms, mood alterations, and poor quality of life. Rehabilitation is a treatment able to expand short- and long-term management of chronic patients admitted to intensive care. Recovery of individual’s physical and respiratory functions are both aims of a rehabilitation course in this area.The purpose of this review article is to resume a ‘‘state of art’’ of the currently available evidence for a rehabilitation strategy in critically illpatients, with a description of the main activities and techniques adopted.Despite the use of several activities and techniques that have led to short-term beneficial effects on both pulmonary and physical functions,muscle retraining represents the most important evidence-based aspect of Intensive Care Unit-rehabilitation: indeed, it is associated with weaning success and helps patients to recover at their maximum at discharge.