Collins, Gillian, Daly, Emma, Gallagher, David et al. · The British journal of occupational therapy · 2026 · DOI
This study tested whether a 6-week online rehabilitation program helped people recovering from long COVID. Thirty-six participants were tracked over 12 weeks—first during a waiting period where nothing changed, then during the rehabilitation program. The program, led by occupational therapists and physical therapists, taught practical strategies and provided peer support. Participants showed significant improvements in fatigue and symptom severity after completing the program.
This study provides evidence that structured rehabilitation can reduce symptom burden in post-COVID syndrome, which shares overlapping features with ME/CFS including post-exertional malaise and fatigue. The within-subject design addresses a major gap in PCS research by including a control period, providing stronger evidence than observational studies alone. For ME/CFS patients, this suggests that carefully designed multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs warrant further investigation.
This study does not establish whether rehabilitation works for ME/CFS patients specifically, as it enrolled only PCS participants. The small sample (n=36) and moderate recruitment rate (41%) limit generalizability to broader PCS populations. The study does not clarify whether improvements resulted from the specific interventions, peer support, or natural recovery, nor does it assess potential harms from activity-based rehabilitation in patients with post-exertional malaise.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
Spotted an error in this entry? Report it →