Breaking Through the Long COVID Recovery Puzzle: How Chiropractic Care Offers New Hope for Persistent Symptoms
Millions of people worldwide continue to grapple with the lingering effects of COVID-19, experiencing symptoms that persist long after their initial recovery. Long COVID-19, officially termed post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome, encompasses many symptoms that persist beyond the initial infection period. These symptoms can last for weeks or even months, impacting various body systems. As healthcare professionals explore comprehensive approaches to address these complex symptoms, chiropractic care has emerged as a promising supportive therapy that may help patients reclaim their quality of life.
Understanding Long COVID: More Than Just Lingering Fatigue
Some of the most common symptoms of Long COVID are severe fatigue after exertion, a reduction in muscle strength, unexplained breathlessness, joint and chest pains, difficulty concentrating (brain fog), elevated heart rate, tinnitus, and sleeping difficulties. What makes Long COVID particularly challenging is its impact on multiple body systems simultaneously. Common manifestations include neurovascular coupling dysfunction, impaired coordination between blood vessels and nerve cells, and impaired autonomic nervous system dysfunction, leading to heart rate variability and blood pressure instability. Patients often experience vision and vestibular problems, affecting balance and coordination.
The complexity of these symptoms points to a deeper issue within the body’s nervous system and immune function. Many of the Long COVID symptoms are consistent with a breakdown in the regulation of aspects of the central nervous system that support rest and recovery from illness, the autonomic nervous system. Hence it’s the excessive inflammation coupled with an autonomic nervous system gone ‘haywire’ that is thought to produce the chronic fatigue.
The Chiropractic Approach to Long COVID Recovery
Chiropractic care is being explored as a potential supportive therapy for individuals experiencing Long COVID symptoms. This approach alleviates discomfort and improves overall functionality through spinal adjustments and other manual techniques. The focus on the nervous system makes chiropractic care particularly relevant for Long COVID patients, as the central command center for your immune response is actually the nervous system—especially the brainstem, which regulates vital autonomic functions.
Professional Chiropractic Care addresses several key areas that are often compromised in Long COVID patients. By focusing on the nervous system, chiropractic interventions may help enhance mobility and reduce inflammation, relieving persistent pain and stiffness. This can be particularly beneficial in addressing musculoskeletal complaints and improving joint function, which are often compromised in Long COVID cases.
Targeting Specific Long COVID Symptoms
One of the most debilitating aspects of Long COVID is the musculoskeletal pain that many patients experience. Repeatedly doing this can result in a great amount of pain due to muscle soreness and joint pain as well as rib and thoracic vertebrae misalignment(s). Expended periods of coughing and sneezing are associated symptoms when recovering from more severe illnesses. Chiropractors are uniquely positioned to address these issues, as Chiropractors are trained to assess, and fix any subluxation or misalignment in the joints in your body. This includes the ribs!
The prolonged inactivity that often accompanies Long COVID recovery creates additional challenges. The period of being sedentary often results in an increase in joint pain due to immobility. With immobility, joints will become less hydrated, stiffer and more prone to pain. Chiropractic care is designed to restore normal biomechanical movement in the joints that are immobile, causing you pain.
Supporting the Body’s Natural Healing Mechanisms
What sets chiropractic care apart in Long COVID treatment is its focus on supporting the body’s innate healing abilities rather than simply masking symptoms. The beauty of upper cervical chiropractic care is that it focuses on restoring neurological balance and homeostasis. Instead of simply managing symptoms, it addresses one of the root causes of immune dysfunction.
Recent research has shown promising results for chiropractic intervention in Long COVID cases. Overwhelmingly, participants experienced improvement in fatigue, long-Covid symptoms, and quality of life. For example, participant T-scores for the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue Scale (FACIT-Fatigue) initially demonstrated that study participants were on average more fatigued than 76% (76th percentile) of the United States population, while at the end of the study participants were scoring in the 25th percentile.
A Personalized, Multidisciplinary Approach
Chiropractors do not employ a one-size-fits-all strategy, particularly in the context of long COVID care. Instead, they develop care plans that are specific to each patient’s constellation of symptoms. Typically, these plans involve a combination of spinal adjustments and soft tissue therapies, both intended to alleviate pain and reduce muscle tension.
The most effective Long COVID recovery plans integrate chiropractic care with other healthcare approaches. Chiropractic interventions, which emphasize musculoskeletal health and nervous system function, can work in tandem with physical rehabilitation, nutritional counseling, and conventional medical management. Through collaboration with other healthcare professionals, chiropractors may help enhance mobility, alleviate pain, and contribute to overall patient well-being, thereby supporting a more effective and holistic recovery process.
Looking Forward: Hope for Long COVID Patients
While chiropractic care is not positioned as a cure for long COVID. Rather, it can serve as a supportive component within a multidisciplinary approach to recovery, aiming to alleviate discomfort and enhance quality of life for individuals navigating the complexities of this condition.
For those struggling with persistent Long COVID symptoms, chiropractic care offers a natural, non-invasive option that addresses the root causes of dysfunction rather than simply managing symptoms. Research has shown that regular adjustments and treatment from a chiropractor improve nerve function and may boost immune system response and function by as much as 200%. This can help to relieve different symptoms and improve reactions the next time a patient gets sick.
As our understanding of Long COVID continues to evolve, the integration of chiropractic care into comprehensive recovery plans represents a beacon of hope for millions seeking to reclaim their health and vitality. By addressing the nervous system’s central role in immune function and overall wellness, chiropractic care may provide the missing piece in many patients’ recovery journeys.