# Rehabilitation: The Missing ‘Medicine’ for Recovering From Zoonotic Illnesses?

## TL;DR

The paper argues that rehabilitation is an overlooked aspect in treating zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, highlighting long-term complications and the impact of restrictive policies.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a biopsychosocial approach to emphasize rehabilitation's role in managing long-term effects of zoonotic illnesses.

## Key findings

- Zoonotic illnesses like COVID-19 cause long-term musculoskeletal and neurological complications.
- Restrictive policies hinder rehabilitation and worsen outcomes for vulnerable patients.
- Sarcopenia and neuroinflammation are significant complications that delay recovery.

## Abstract

Outbreaks of zoonotic illnesses, from previously neglected monkeypox to the novel pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), herald a new contagious manifestation of diseases that threaten global health safety, dwindle scarce resources, and generate hurtful stigma. Clinical and public health interventions, such as isolation and quarantine of the sick and their contacts, induction of vaccine-derived immunity, and the use of therapeutics, often overlook long-term musculoskeletal and neurological complications. Here, we employ a biopsychosocial lens to elucidate the theoretical underpinnings and broader practical aspects of rehabilitation in our experience of caring for COVID-19 and other patients in Singapore’s public hospitals. We discuss the often-overlooked complications of these illnesses, including sarcopenia and neuroinflammation. These can delay rehabilitation in the most vulnerable and bring to the forefront the drawbacks of policies that restrict mobility and socialization.