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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If youre sick enough to be in the intensive care unit, then youre probably too sick to get out of bed, right?
In most Intensive care units (ICUs), thats what doctors think, and as a result, most patients are kept in deep sedation and on strict bed rest. However, a critical care specialist at Johns Hopkins would beg to differ. Dale Needham, M.D., Ph.D., believes ICU patients would be better off walking laps around the unit, even if theyre on mechanical ventilation or other forms of life support.
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He arrived at that conclusion after reviewing the medical literature on ICU patients, looking at how bed rest contributes to significant neuromuscular dysfunction and how getting the patient up and moving helps minimize those problems. The report also cites an example from his own ICU at Johns Hopkins, where staff members routinely put patients back on their feet as soon as possible. In one example, a 56-year-old man with severe lung disease was admitted for kidney failure and ended up staying in the ICU for two months. However, because the staff got him up and walked him around the unit, he continued to improve even seven months later.
Although there are many causes of muscle weakness, getting ICU patients up and moving does help modify the negative effects of bed rest, Dr. Needham was quoted as saying.
The idea isnt even all that new -- battlefield doctors back in World War II recognized the need to mobilize injured soldiers in order to get them back to their units as soon as possible. The concept has just fallen out of favor in the modern age. My review shows it may be time to go back to the future, reports the physician.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, published online October 7, 2008
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