Issued on: 23/09/2020 – 07:45
In Rio de Janeiros poorest suburbs, Covid-19 tests have been hard to come by. Yet many residents have suffered the viruss symptoms for months, forcing one physiotherapist to adapt her practice in response. FRANCE 24s correspondents brings us inside her clinic.
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In the Complexo do Alemao favela, nestled among the northern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Covid-19 is still spreading. Testing, tracing and treatment have not kept pace.
So Monica, a longtime physiotherapist and founder of the Movement and Life Institute (Instituto Movimento & Vida), has seen the consequences first hand.
A patient she was originally treating for a knee injury now has difficulty breathing. She was never diagnosed, but had symptoms typical of Covid-19 a few months ago: “A lot of aches in my body… I needed support to be able to walk,” she says.
Monicas work offers insights into the long-term side effects of the virus, which remain under-studied.
“Muscle pain, weakness, difficulty breathing – nobody talks about the aftermath of Covid,” she says. “Ive been studying this since March. I always knew it was going to hit us.”
Altogether, Monica has 120 patients with such side effects waiting for treatment. For some, her clinic is their oRead More – Source
