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COVID Recovery & Rehabilitation
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is uniquely qualified to care for patients who've completed their COVID treatment. As the #1 expert in treating impairment and debilitation caused by disease and injury, we are the Special-Ops team ready to help with lingering effects of the viral infection.
Rehabilitation delivers significant improvements in function and independence, post-COVID illness.
Our Patients, Our Priority
Recovering after COVID hospitalization can be difficult to navigate. Our team of rehabilitation experts provide a wide-range of specialized care to help patients regain their strength and mobility.
Battling COVID-19: Filmmaker Spends Month in Hospital, Weeks in Rehab
Gordon Quinn couldn’t speak. But he desperately needed to tell his doctors something.
The 77-year-old world-renowned documentarian was finally off a ventilator, for the second time. He had just been helped into a sitting position for the first time in weeks. But now they were talking about putting him on a ventilator for a third time.
Glen Ellyn dad has survived COVID-19, 9/11 and cancer
Chris Ward was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day before Thanksgiving. He had a headache, a rarity for him, and got a rapid test to rule out the virus before the holiday.
By the day after Thanksgiving, his heart was racing and he spiked a fever, so he went to the hospital.
He didn’t leave until February.
COVID-19 'long-haulers' work to regain basic skills, overcome 'brain fog' months after diagnosis
Chicago's Shirley Ryan Ability Lab created a COVID-19 rehabilitation unit in April. And as the number of cases rise in the area, so does the unit's number of patients getting therapy for the long-term effects of the virus.
read moreHow We Heal
After a prolonged hospital stay due to COVID-19, including time spent in an intensive care units (ICU), rehabilitation plays an important role in recovery. Interdisciplinary teams of experts work with patients, many formerly on ventilators, to address loss in strength and fine motor skills, as well as dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and ongoing shortness of breath. Our teams are also able to provide stroke and neurologic rehabilitation for patients who have had strokes related to COVID infections.
Nerve, Muscle & Bone Innovation Center
For over 60 years, we’ve been recognized for the depth of our expertise with conditions affecting the nerves, muscles, bones and joints in adults and children.
Learn MoreThink + Speak Lab
Recovering the ability to think, reason, perceive, swallow, eat, talk, interact with others and make decisions are key for returning to yourself, loved ones and life. In this Lab, combined therapeutic care and scientific application help you recover these building blocks of ability.
Strength + Endurance Lab
Designed for patients and research participants working on building stamina and resilience, the Nancy W. Knowles Strength + Endurance Lab is where therapy is targeted to improve complex motor and endurance activities, coordination and higher-level activities of daily living (cooking, dressing, gardening, sports).
Our clinicians hold the multidisciplinary expertise to support the wide range of rehabilitation needs after COVID treatment.
Beyond the Illness
Patients recovering from COVID-19 face some obstacles as others who have been on ventilators, but often must also work on regaining strength. Our interdisciplinary rehabilitation approach can improve function and mobility after diagnosis.Referenced Node
Inpatient COVID Recovery Unit
We treat several thousand inpatients with a wide variety of functional impairments, from the common to the most complex.
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Research Innovation for COVID Recovery
Our researchers have developed a novel wearable device and data algorithms specifically tailored to catch signs and symptoms associated with COVID-19 and to monitor patients as the illness progresses.
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Continued At-Home Care
TeleHealth visits offer patients the flexibility to meet virtually with their clinicians and keep up remotely with their rehabilitation goals.
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Request an appointmentChoosing Rehabilitation Post-COVID
After a long hospital stay, early and continuous rehabilitation can be key to recovery. As the #1 rehabilitation research hospital (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report), Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's leading team of expert clinicians and researchers is uniquely qualified to treat patients presenting the most complex rehabilitation cases.
