Sharjah 24: Under the slogan “Long-Term Covid-19 and Rehabilitation”, the Physical and Occupational Therapy Department (POTD) at Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services celebrated the World Physical Therapy Day, which is observed every year on 8 Sepetember.

In this context, the Physical and Occupational Therapy Department completed the “Your Breath is Life” initiative that started during 2020 to serve the beneficiaries under the slogan “Rehabilitation and Covid 19”, this year title will be in line with the slogan of the World Day and will include a set of exercises to improve the level of breathing in addition to chest exercises and motor activities to stimulate blood circulation .

Ms. Nouf Al Ali, Acting Director of the Physical and Occupational Therapy Department, affirmed that the Department keeps pace with the latest and best international practices in providing direct and supportive services to the Department’s students, who benefited from 8,274 sessions last year, whereas 91% of 284 people improved.

Among the most prominent of these direct services are the specialised exercises and movement exercises that are provided to children on a regular basis by relying on specialised treatment methods using individual treatment systems.

Ms. Al Ali added that hundreds of people benefited from the Department’s support services over the past year, such as (music therapy sessions, evaluation, class visits), as the Department was very keen to provide continuous services during the Covid-19 pandemic (closely and remotely) in cooperation with parents.

On the occasion of the World Physical Therapy Day, the Department organised a (virtual) panel discussion entitled (Let's Talk About Rehabilitation and Long-Term Covid-19), in which a set of experiences were presented to people who were infected with Covid-19 and the role played by physical therapy in the rehabilitation process.

The department broadcast a set of awareness webinars on long-term Covid and the best physiotherapy practices through breathing exercises, improving the performance of the chest muscles and raising the efficiency of the respiratory system.