During your illness you will probably have lost some weight and muscle strength, and your joints may be stiff. It is estimated that you will have lost 2% of your muscle mass each day during your illness. It is difficult to place a timescale on recovery as everyone recovers at a different rate, but you should not be concerned if it takes weeks or even months to get fully back to normal fitness. The only way to recover and to get stronger is to walk and exercise “little and often”.

It is important to pace your activities, so you don’t do everything in one go. We will discuss and plan several activities that you need to do so you have adequate rest periods. We will talk about staring with small goals and gradually increase the amount you can do as you feel able to do so. We will then go into the studio and demonstrate strengthening exercises as this will help improve muscles that have become weaker because of your illness. Strengthening exercises will not make you feel breathless in the same way as fitness exercises. Instead, your muscles will feel like they have worked hard.