Daria Oller is a physical therapist at Pro-Activity specializing in treating dancers and athletes but also on-site with her employer’s clients focusing on population health. She contracted COVID-19 last March and is now living with Long COVID. Ted Dechane is a school-based pediatric PT and also an in-patient hospital PT. He is also living with Long COVID and has been sharing his story, advocating, and educating.
They begin discussing her experience having COVID-19 and the ways she needed to adjust her lifestyle due to contracting the virus. What they were not expecting was the long hauler effects.
As physical therapists, Daria and Ted continued to work while maintaining the Long COVID symptoms but now have created strategies for other PT’s in the same situation.
#StopRestPace is a technique to help maintain symptoms and energy while remaining physically active. They emphasize the warning signs on when to stop to prevent physical, cognitive, and emotional overload.
Check out their peer support group on Twitter @LongCOVIDPhysio and listen to their Long COVID Physio Podcast.
Listen to our previous episode with Mount Sinai Hospital NYC on Long COVID – What Do We Know? An In-Depth Look at Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome for Physical Therapists.
PARTING SHOT
45:21 “One of the biggest things in PT even outside of Long COVID is listening to your patient, believe your patient. What they’re feeling is what they’re going through.” – Ted DeChane
46:07 “Be open to paradigm shifts…Constantly look to live and grow.” – Daria Oller