Abstract COVID-19 infection and long COVID affect multiple organ systems, including the respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, digestive, neuroendocrine, musculoskeletal systems, and sensory organs. Exerkines, released during exercise, have a potent crosstalk effect between multiple body systems. This review describes the evidence of how exerkines can mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in each organ system that the virus affects. The evidence presented in the review suggests that exercise should be considered a first-line strategy in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infection and long COVID disease. Open access, https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/...ise_is_the_Most_Important_Medicine_for.7.aspx
The authors say "There are currently no validated effective treatments for long COVID (3)." and then try very hard, without actually having any proof, to suggest that exercise should be used to treat Long Covid. E.g. "Long COVID also has been associated with increased stress levels, anxiety, and depression (35). Regular exercise has been shown to alleviate stress and anxiety (36) and has been associated with lower odds of incident depression or an increase in subclinical symptoms (37). The evidence indicates that exercise is an important medicine for treating these symptoms of long COVID. In summary, exercise remains a type of polypill that helps to ameliorate the harmful effects of COVID-19 on the neuroendocrine system (23)." "Noteworthy for COVID-19 rehabilitation is that research has identified that mitochondria are damaged with COVID-19 infection and are involved in symptoms (such as fatigue) of long COVID (40). Exercise has been found to “clean-up” nonfunctioning, damaged mitochondria, and thus ensure that energy production is optimized and skeletal muscle health is maintained (41)." Before admitting in the conclusion. "Conclusion The Figure compares the effects of COVID-19 versus the “opposing” effects of exercise to this virus. The evidence presented in this review adds to the Nieman et al. (65) viewpoint, that it is time to include “treatment for and reduced risk of COVID-19 and long COVID” to the “Exercise is Medicine list of physical activity-related health benefits.” The potent, multi-organ effects of exerkines position exercise as the most important medicine for COVID-19 and long COVID. However, it should be noted that the evidence exists for non-COVID-19 patients and needs to be verified in COVID-19 and long COVID patients. Future research needs to investigate the suggested molecular pathways and mechanisms within clinical trials of exercise interventions for long COVID. This will allow for the mapping of molecular transducers and signaling pathways that occur during exercise with individuals post COVID-19, with long COVID."
Easy to guess this comes from a department of Sports medicine and is published by a sports medicine journal. Exercise is, of course, the prevention and cure for everything. So they extrapolate data from healthy sporty people without Covid and ignore any contraindications provided by Covid infection. Makey uppy science.
It's disappointing that they don't say whether this is in addition to the horse tablets and bleach, or instead of.
Is exerkines a term they've made up? Anyway, the irony of if these were real, identified things wondering whether the vice-versa is that these if better understood could then provide a useful part of methodology for studying what they create short-medium-long term in said systems vs healthy/different illness controls? It's pretty hard, and gets bogged down in the nonsense 'perception is reality' rhetoric manifestos when you think about actually making people exercise when a pwme might already be in PEM or over-exerion from getting to the treadmill.... but hey if there are these things which could have calibrated dosages then..?
The dimwit approach - and we've all been there when most pwme say there were at least 'more active than most' (many athletes) prior to getting it, becomes ignored and rewritten to the assumption of 'well Chalder or whoever wrote its caused by deconditioning so that reality mustn't be true - throw in enough words that you think make you look like you know what you are talking about whilst the main thrust is actually missing. Like baking a cake that is over-covered in sprinkles, icing and jam but you've used no flour or eggs and didn't bother cooking it? And thinking you've made a cake underneath all of that and are a baker. Ignore reality that we've had enough articles come out that show it is often the fittest athletes who ended up debilatated by long covid. Then do an entire paper claiming expertise on a condition you've chosen not to even see one patient for. Sounds familiar to the Beard and McCready retrospective a bit. If this were indeed (some of it) both correct and being used as the 'starter' for an experiment that was then planning on mapping what instead happened which was different to this in those who do have Covid-19 and then Long covid........ well that would be at least some sort of scientific brain - or at least curiousity. At least we can get some insight into the self-delusion process is happenning when people like this write out their workings out they delude themselves with to allow themselves to keep believing - I've never understood why they care so much about something that affects others lives catasrophically but not their own one jot - erm... made-up this is what I fancy believing today because it suits me stuff. This is like someone trying to say out-loud why they are rubbing their eyes unable to understand what they see in front of them with a condition that gets worse with exercise. And explaining their unknown knowns then failing to go any further in saying ... so we'll check whether 2 + 2 = 5 and reassess what we think we know, because that is science, if so. Does this stuff just come from the 'I am just incapable of saying 'I don't know' and looking into it' crowd being unable to resist lurching into the BS-part of their brain in order to say something on their feet as they think that will mean they don't look like they don't know what they are talking about? Anyway I'm beginnning to think that we need a whole new research area in the future - which would indeed be psych-based - looking into and focusing on naming and describing the conditions and the treatments for all the people who are behind this BPS'y stuff. It's a habit for flawed thinking but the bit I struggle with is the motivation pre-gravy train and whether it is group psychology or what. So I'd be fascinated to begin seeing it be properly dissected.
Exerkines in health, resilience and disease (open) Abstract "The health benefits of exercise are well-recognized and are observed across multiple organ systems. These beneficial effects enhance overall resilience, healthspan and longevity. The molecular mechanisms that underlie the beneficial effects of exercise, however, remain poorly understood. Since the discovery in 2000 that muscle contraction releases IL-6, the number of exercise-associated signalling molecules that have been identified has multiplied. Exerkines are defined as signalling moieties released in response to acute and/or chronic exercise, which exert their effects through endocrine, paracrine and/or autocrine pathways. A multitude of organs, cells and tissues release these factors, including skeletal muscle (myokines), the heart (cardiokines), liver (hepatokines), white adipose tissue (adipokines), brown adipose tissue (baptokines) and neurons (neurokines). Exerkines have potential roles in improving cardiovascular, metabolic, immune and neurological health. As such, exerkines have potential for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity, and possibly in the facilitation of healthy ageing. This Review summarizes the importance and current state of exerkine research, prevailing challenges and future directions."
They're suggesting it like it's a done deal, while admitting they didn't bother checking. Even though it's already the widespread model. Good grief what is wrong with this profession? It takes zero curiosity or motivation to refuse to find out what is happening to the patients, and a complete indifference to actually listening to the patients to dare suggest this. Especially on such a ridiculous and irrelevant reasoning. Fully egocentric medicine, by physicians, for physicians. Medicine seriously lacks reasoning skills. I get that biology cannot be reasoned but this is just absurd. As soon as they work without a biological basis it's not even amateur hour, because amateurs do far better, and actually care about the outcomes. It's been the most commonly recommended treatment from the start. This is ridiculous, they're completely detached from reality.
I remember re-reading a history essay I'd drafted on the bus when I was 15, and doing the calculation about whether it would look to the teacher as if I'd at least made a cursory effort, but not as if I'd copied it from a book. I suspect this is how some of the authors of papers like this work. They need to do enough to justify their salaries, but not so much that it attracts unwanted scrutiny. Actual sick people out there in the wild don't come into it at all.
They've basically described what the null hypothesis should be for their experiment haven't they? ie 'if there is nothing that is impacting the reaction to exercise in those with covid 19 or long covid then x should be what we see..........but if we see anything different then .... that is a finding/the condition' Except weirdly has the area gone so warped they think they now don't need to do the test? I mean I'd admire them if they were planning on doing the test and had started ou wih this level of detail in describing what they should see, so that anything else different is seen not as behavioural but biological... but this is surely the definition of madness where you don't realise you are being psychosomatic/doesn't exist paradigm by assuming the results will be the same as for norms [because there is nothing wrong that will affect this] without checking it?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Exercise Is the Most Important Medicine for COVID-19 Carroll, Harriet A. PhD; Harvey, Naomi PhD https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/...ise_is_the_most_important_medicine_for.8.aspx Response to Letter to Editor: Exercise Is the Most Important Medicine for COVID-19 Torres, Georgia; Constantinou, Demitri; Gradidge, Philippe; Patel, Deepak; Patricios, Jon Less Current Sports Medicine Reports. 22(12):424, December 2023. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/...letter_to_editor__exercise_is_the_most.9.aspx
