A Study of Musculoskeletal Manifestations Among Post COVID Patients at a Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Introduction- Aside from other multisystemic symptoms, musculoskeletal symptoms are quite common in patients with COVID-19. Post covid there has been a rapid rise in diffuse complaints of myalgia and joint pain. This study was designed to calculate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in post-COVID 19 cases. Material & Methods- This was a cross-sectional single-centre study carried out at Pt. B. D. Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana. Patients aged more than 18 years who were diagnosed with COVID 19 without any previous history of musculoskeletal manifestations and a minimum of 21 days of negative RT-PCR report were included in the study. Results- 249 patients with a history of Covid 19 participated in the study and presented with musculoskeletal manifestations. Lower back pain (37.3%) was the most common symptom in patients with post-covid musculoskeletal symptoms, followed by, shortness of breath (34.1%), arthralgia (33.7%), myalgia (31.4%), upper back pain (26.5%) and only a few patients with post-covid reactive arthritis (1.2%). Fatigue was reported by almost all the study subjects. Conclusion- Generalised fatigue, diffuse muscle and joint pain are quite frequently seen in post COVID patients which amounts to a huge patient load presenting to Orthopaedic clinics. Keywords- Covid19, Myalgia, Musculoskeletal, Arthralgia