In-bed cycling? Rehabilitation? Mechanical ventilation? Critical care? Weaning

Successful weaning from mechanical ventilation (MV) belongs to the challenges in critical care. The study evaluated the effect of the addition of in-bed leg cycling using a MOTOmed device to standard rehabilitation on the length of MV. Randomized open-label clinical trial. Sixty-seven mechanically ventilated patients were random allocated in the in-bed leg cycling MOTOmed group (m-group) and the control group (c-group). The standard physiotherapy was carried out twice a day in both groups. The m-group received additional in-bed leg cycling rehabilitation using a MOTOmed device once daily. We included 20 patients in m-group and 19 in c-group in the final analysis. In the m-group, a non-significant reduction in both total length of MV (21.0 ± 9.78 vs. 24.4 ± 10.88 days, p = 0.915) and length of MV from randomization (5.4 ± 6.17 vs. 8.7 ± 8.00 days, p = 0.860) was observed. Both groups had significant muscle strength improvement (knee joint extension, handgrip). However, the m-group patients reached the same muscle strength level in a shorter time (8.70 ± 6.44 vs. 6.8 ± 4.3 days, p = 0.534). In our study, adding the MOTOmed device in-bed leg cycling to standard rehabilitation did not significantly reduce mechanical ventilation length in critically ill patients.