It is unbelievable that the covid 19 pandemic was a mere five years ago, as most people would agree it feels like a lifetime ago!!
While society seems to have moved on from COVID, there are as of April 2024 approximately two million people in the UK with post covid syndrome known as long covid.
This article is focused on examining long covid, its symptoms and reviewing how research on how massage therapy can help mange symptoms and provide a better quality of life. This in turn, will help enable people with long covid to make an informed choice whether massage therapy might be beneficial in their fight against long covid.
Within accordance to NHS England, Long Covid is defined as “signs and symptoms that develop during or following an infection consistent with COVID-19 that continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are over two hundred symptoms associated long Covid and can vary massively from person to person.
Some of the most common include:
- extreme tiredness (fatigue)
- shortness of breath
- chest pain or tightness
- problems with memory and concentration (“brain fog”)
- difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
- heart palpitations
- dizziness
- pins and needles
- joint pain
- depression and anxiety
- tinnitus, earaches
- feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite
- a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste
Long Covid most often occurs in people who have had severe Covid 19 illness but is not limited to those who were critically ill or hospitalised.
What causes long covid?
Whilst the jury is out on a definitive root cause of long Covid, there are multiple theories/hypotheses that advocate a catalyst for this illnesses some of these include:
Remnants of the virus still remaining after the immune system has eliminated covid from the body.
These pathogens linger in the organs and stimulate an immune response that may cause damage to the tissues and chronic inflammation, thus resulting in long covid.
Another theory associated with long covid includes reactivation of latent virus, meaning viruses contracted previously, may lay dormant in the body and covid 19 reactivates these pathogens and cause acute long term illness
Organ damage is also a theory posited in the genesis of long covid and proponents argue that internal damage can spark long term covid symptoms.
Research on massage and long covid
Although there is no definitive panacea for long covid to date, multiple sources of research suggest massage can and does help manage many of its symptoms.
For example ,In their investigation in to new approaches to treating long covid symptoms, Wheibe etal (2024), recommended massage therapy as potential effective treatment with many benefits in improving patient quality of life.
Some of these included: decreasing pain levels related to musculoskeletal complaints, reduce anxiety and stress, improving sleep and alleviating gastrointestinal symptoms associated with Long COVID.
Another study carried out by Cienda (2023), confirmed, that by adopting a multi-modal approach and evidence-based methods such as application of heat, myofascial release, Trigger Point work, acupressure, stretching and breathwork, massage therapists can provide a therapeutic treatment modality capable of eliminating long covid symptoms.
Finally lenorad and Lapp (2023) advocates that the gentle stimulation effect massage causes on the skin creates stimulation of the immune systems fighting cells which destroy pathogens and foreign invaders that persist in long covid.
Precautions to treatment
Whilst the above highlights potential positive outcomes for long covid sufferers symptoms, there is a few caveats that therapist must take into consideration when treating a client with Long Covid.
These include: ensuring massage professionals stay firmly in the area of knowledge and level of training and refer any worries or concerns on to the appropriate health care professionals.
In addition to this, communication through out treatment must be a two way process, where the therapist is checking that the client is ok with factors such as pressure, comfort, respiration etc and the client must responding accordingly.
Conclusion
This article has highlighted that although massage is not a total elixir for long covid, it can and does help in the fight against managing symptoms. It has confirmed that massage is good for boosting the immune system and disease fighting cells. Furthermore, it has endorsed a multi model approach that uses a combination of modalities to boost mood, reduce fatigue and ease breathing.