Physical exercise in the control of pain or fatigue associated with viral infections: systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Individuals after viral infections remain with persistent symptoms such as pain and fatigue. Physical exercises have been described as a promising alternative for the control of these symptoms, but there are no systematic reviews that verify the effectiveness of this therapy and that assess the quality of these studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of physical exercise on pain or fatigue associated with viral infections. METHODS: Systematic review registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021265174). Data collection was carried out between July 2021 and January 2022. Randomized clinical trials that addressed the practice of exercises, in individuals over 18 years of age, diagnosed with viral infection associated with the presence of pain or fatigue for more than 3 months were included. The search was carried out in the Pubmed, EMBASE, LILACS and Scielo databases, and the paired selection was carried out in the software (rayyan.ai); risk of bias analysis was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials 2; certainty of evidence through GRADE; and for the construction of the meta-analysis, the Review Manager software.